The references given below are divided into two sections. In the first we offer recommendations for further reading which are classified by Module. In the second, we offer a full list of references of works cited in the text, and these are classified alphabetically.
Although we cannot guarantee that the listed books and articles are readily available, those listed in the first section have been chosen because libraries of higher educational institutions concerned with business training and economics seem likely to stock them or would be able to obtain them – at least in the UK. A student without access to such institutions and unable or unwilling to purchase any of the works should recall our advice in the Foreword. A distance learning course has the aim of reducing the necessity for wide reading at least in respect of its analytical content. Students can then test their understanding of the analysis by building up a filing system of case studies as these become available in the financial and economic press.
The full list of references in the second section may be regarded as some sort of academic refinement. However, we work on the principle that there may be readers who for one reason or another wish to follow up particular themes. The reasons for doing so may vary from intellectual curiosity to practical necessity. We are not in a position to know the tastes and preferences of readers of this Course, but think that it will be of some service to them to reduce their search costs if they feel impelled to explore our subject further. The list is rather long, but as Francis Bacon said ‘some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested’.
There are relatively few books which treat political action from the point of view of the economist and which also analyse political bargaining rather than prescribe what governments should do. Try:
Randall Bartlett (1973) Economic Foundations of Political Power, The Free Press, Collier Macmillan: London.
Although it adopts a normative approach, the following work adopts a commendably realistic stance towards economic action by those who wish to influence government:
Joseph E. Stiglitz et al. (1989) The Economic Role of the State, Basil Blackwell: Oxford.
Both authors of this module have treated several of its themes in:
Alan Peacock (1979) The Economic Analysis of Government, Martin Robertson: Oxford, chapters 1, 7, and 9.
Martin Ricketts (1994) The Economics of Business Enterprises, 2nd edn, Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hemel Hempstead, part 1.
