Economics drives the modern world and shapes our lives, but few of us feel we have time to engage with the breadth of ideas in the subject. 50 Economics Classics is the smart person's guide to two centuries of discussion of finance, capitalism and the global economy. From Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to Thomas Piketty's bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, here are the great reads, seminal ideas and famous texts, clarified and illuminated for all.

EXPLORE the ideas of some of the greatest thinkers in economics: Milton Friedman on economic freedom - J. K. Galbraith on 1929 - Friedrich Hayek on knowledge - Jane Jacobs on cities - J. M. Keynes on depressions - Thomas Malthus on population - Karl Marx on capital - David Ricardo on free trade - Joseph Schumpeter's 'creative destruction' - Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' - Max Weber's 'spirit of capitalism'. GAIN the insights and research of contemporary economists and commentators: William Baumol on entrepreneurs - Gary Becker on human capital - Diane Coyle on GDP - Naomi Klein on neoliberalism - Paul Krugman on inequality - Deirdre McCloskey on ideas - Dambisa Moyo on aid - Thomas Piketty on wealth concentration - Amartya Sen on food security - Joseph Stiglitz on the euro - Richard Thaler on behavioral economics - Michael Lewis on the 2007-08 crisis - Dani Rodrik on globalization - Robert Shiller on asset bubbles.

DISCOVER the truth behind the headlines in these landmark bestsellers and works of economic history.