Summer Readings

Forward-looking members of the incoming ITFD class of 2009 are asking me for recommendations on what books to take to the beach, to prepare themselves for the courses ahead. Wow! I like it when the students ask for more even before they arrive. We must have done something right with our admission decisions.
My suggestions would be [ordered from dead-serious preparation to more entertaining and stimulating]:

1. Krugman-Obstfeld; International Economics: Theory and Policy
2. Krugman, Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in the Age of Diminished Expectations [a bit dated now, but incredibly well-written]
3. Taylor-Obstfeld, Global Capital Markets: Integration, Crisis, and Growth
   
4. Eichengreen, The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond [my favourite economic history book of the last year]
5. Seabright, The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life