best place to learn about US/world economics

[Xfujinon]

I am desiring to learn more about the US economy. Specifically, I'd like to know where I can find FACTS (not opinions, not propaganda, not rhetoric, not partisan partylines) about how our monetary system is run, microeconomics, macroeconomics, etc. The whole bit.

Any good, neutral websites? Books? Papers, magazines, anything?

World economy is also high on the list.

This is simply an academic past-time interest, but I do want to learn more about these things and not just repeat opinions without facts.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rhsgolfer33]

Here are a few good, interesting sites:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/
http://www.federalreserve.gov/
http://stockcharts.com/index.html
http://www.teachmefinance.com/
http://www.bls.gov/

Lots of good info and statistics on those sites, as well as some basic finance concepts. The St. Louis Fed site is particular interesting, lots of data and statistics.

If you really want to learn with as little bias as is possible, I'd recommend getting a few textbooks. Principles of Economics is pretty good, buy the older edition to save money (it will probably be fine for basic studying). This will probably serve as a good entry level book. You might then want to move on to a more advanced, dedicated micro or macro economics book. If you're interest in learning about things like money, banking, and capital markets, this is a pretty good book (I'd recommend it after reading a basic econ text, though its probably not necessary).

Its going to be hard to get facts though, a lot of micro and macro economics involve different theories, such as Keynesian or classical, and the way our economy is run usually tends towards one of a few theories. Knowing the theories, however, will definitely help you to decipher which theory economic policy is tending towards

You might also start with Wikipedia to get a basic understanding of what your specifically looking to learn. If you have a local community college that could be a great place to start; classes are usually relatively inexpensive and an you can learn a lot in an introductory economics course.

 

[Xfujinon]

thanks very much! I have done some Wikipedia reading, and have followed the news for quite some time. I was a biology/biochemistry major in college, never took a business or economics course, but have become interested as of late.

Thanks again! Will look into it.