Here at INOMICS we are always on the lookout for a good econ read. Here is a selection of new economics book releases from the first quarter of 2026 (okay, one from the very end of 2025!). 

Our selection includes three new works on labour economics, with a focus on social welfare and economic development.

Additionally we highlight two new books relevant for economic methodology, including a major new textbook for students on microeconomics, as well as a new book bridging the gap between behavioral economics and empirical methods.

The final three books in our round-up include an eclectic mix of focuses, from an analysis of the status of the dollar as the primary reserve currency in the international economy, an analysis of the role of women in the international economy through prominent case studies like Taylor Swift, through to a new work looking at AI in Economics.

Whether you are a student of economics or you are simply interested in economic topics, we wish you happy reading.

The Future of Work in Developing Countries 

Edited by: Akbar Noman,  Joseph E. Stiglitz,  Arjun Jayadev
Part of the series: "Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization"

Published: March 6, 2026

Description:
One of the most pressing issues in development today is the employment challenge in low- and middle-income countries. As more young people enter the labor force―and as structural transformation unfolds amid deindustrialization, technological disruption, and global competition―the question of how to create sufficient decent jobs has become central to the economic future of the Global South. Although this is a shared challenge across developing regions, it is particularly acute in Africa, where rapid demographic change and urbanization are colliding with limited industrial expansion.

Bringing together leading international scholars, The Future of Work in Developing Countries examines the employment problem from multiple perspectives.

By combining rigorous theoretical analysis with grounded empirical research, this book demonstrates that employment creation is not an automatic byproduct of growth but a political and institutional project. It offers fresh insights for scholars of development, political economy, and economic history, as well as for policy makers seeking strategies to promote inclusive transformation in Africa and beyond.
 

Ladder or Lottery: Economic Promises and the Reality of Who Gets Ahead

by  Gary A. Hoover

Published: February 17, 2026

Description:
This book asks the reader a simple question: Is our economy a ladder or a lottery? Are people able to control their position on the economic spectrum by their actions? Some argue that, in our market-based economy, if you play by certain rules and make certain choices, you'll achieve upward mobility no matter what economic position you were born into.

Drawing on his vast economic expertise, prominent economist Gary A. Hoover explores what this "social contract" requires of its citizens, and what it offers in return. Hoover shows how civil unrest is often directly related to broken society-level promises, exploring protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, the Arab Spring, and student debt forgiveness as case studies. He also predicts where future protests can be expected if results promised are not results delivered.

This insightful and data-driven book tackles challenging issues around income inequality, health care, and artificial intelligence, and ultimately equips readers to answer these pressing questions: Is our social contract a ladder to higher economic standing, accessible to all no matter where they start? Or rather a lottery in which many will buy a ticket but only a few will find success? And how can we best align social promises with our lived economic realities?

Hard at Work: Job Quality, Wellbeing, and the Global Economy

by Francis Green

Published: December 24, 2025

Description:
More than three billion people are at work across the globe, and it takes up a huge chunk of the time humans spend on this planet. Policymakers say they want to see "more and better jobs" or "decent work for all" but are good jobs expanding, and if so for whom? Or are bad jobs taking over?

In Hard at Work, Economics Professor Francis Green (University College London) presents a new, up-to-date account of job quality to understand the immense variety and range of jobs, as well as the evolution of these jobs in the twenty-first century. Drawing on economics, industrial relations, sociology, psychology, and ergonomics, as well as new data sources from countries around the world, Green constructs a unified and interdisciplinary conceptual framework that illustrates the impacts of job quality on our health and wellbeing. He finds that while some work environments can be meaningful, well-paced, safe, well-paid, and supportive, others can be tightly controlled, low-paid, dangerous, insecure, and fast-paced. With this broad picture of job quality, Green turns to various issues that impact workers--the failure to improve job quality and workers' wellbeing at work despite long-term economic growth, the declining share of labor income, the general increase in work demands, and the prospects for job quality in the new automated world of work.

Original and authoritative, Hard at Work provides a global and comprehensive understanding of job quality that raises important questions for this emerging field.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. A hardcover or ebook version is available for purchase.

Introduction to Quantitative Economics

by Jesse M. Shapiro 

Published: February 24, 2026
Description:
A paradigm-shifting textbook that teaches graduate students in economics how to use economic models to interpret data.

Offering a new pedagogical paradigm, this textbook delivers a ready-made economics course covering the general concepts that unify different approaches to bringing economic models to data. Jesse Shapiro presents core ideas in quantitative economics as an abstract, cohesive whole and introduces canonical models that can be used across a wide range of applications. This course-in-a-book exposes students to stylized applications of these models that illuminate their foundations as well as recent research articles demonstrating the models’ broad applicability.

 

Expectations Matter: The New Causal Macroeconomics of Surveys and Experiments 

by Olivier Coibion, Yuriy Gorodnichenko 

Published: March 24, 2026

Description:
How do expectations about the future influence economic behavior? For decades, economists have known that beliefs play a central role—from how much households spend, to how firms set prices, to how central banks design policy. But figuring out exactly how expectations affect decisions has been one of the field’s most persistent empirical challenges.

In this book, Olivier Coibion and Yuriy Gorodnichenko present a fresh empirical approach: using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to study the causal impact of expectations. Drawing on more than a decade of their research, they show how targeted information treatments can generate experimental variation in beliefs—making it possible to measure how those beliefs influence real-world decisions. Along the way, they reassess the limits of the traditional rational expectations framework and offer a richer, evidence-based picture of how people form and act on their views about the economy.
 

King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World's Dominant Currency 

by Paul Blustein  

Published: March 18, 2025

Description:
Prophecies that the dollar will lose its status as the world’s dominant currency have echoed for decades—and are increasing in volume. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts claim that Bitcoin or other blockchain-based monetary units will replace the dollar. Foreign policy hawks warn that China’s renminbi poses a lethal threat to the greenback. And sound money zealots predict that mounting US debt and inflation will surely erode the dollar’s value to the point of irrelevancy.

Contra the doomsayers, Paul Blustein shows that the dollar’s standing atop the world’s currency pyramid is impregnable, barring catastrophic policy missteps by the US government. Recounting how the United States has wielded the dollar to impose devastating sanctions against adversaries, Blustein explains that although targets such as Russia have found ways to limit the damage, Washington’s financial weaponry will retain potency long into the future. His message, however, is that America must not be complacent about the dollar; the great power that its supremacy confers comes with commensurate responsibility.

 

Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy

by Misty L. Heggeness 
Published: January 27, 2026
Description:
Taylor Swift isn't just a pop megastar. She is a working woman whose astounding accomplishments defy patriarchal norms. And while not all women can be Beyoncé or Dolly Parton or Reese Witherspoon, the successes of these trailblazing stars help us understand the central role of women in today's economy.

Swiftynomics assesses the complex economic lives of everyday American women through the stories of groundbreakers like Taylor Swift. Prominent economist Misty L. Heggeness, currently associate professor of economics at Kansas University, digs into the data, revealing women's hidden contributions and aspirations―the unexamined value they create by pursuing their own ambitions. She highlights the abundance of productive activity in their daily lives and acknowledges the barriers they still face.

Exploring critical reforms regarding caregiving and gendered labor, this book offers advice for women to thrive in an economy that was not built for them.

AI Economics: How Technology Transforms Jobs, Markets, Life, & Our Future 

by  Benjamin Shiller 

Published: February 6, 2026

Description:
Through vivid, often surreal stories, AI Economics reveals how technology is reshaping our world. You will discover:
- The "Weirdness Wage Premium": Why the strangest jobs may soon command the highest pay.
- The Kangaroo Lesson: What marsupials can teach us about modern job security.
- Secondhand Privacy: Why someone else’s data might be more dangerous to you than secondhand smoke.
- The Green Mountain Mystery: Why Chinese officials once spray-painted an entire mountainside green, and why new technology finally made them stop.
In AI Economics, Benjamin Shiller, associate professor of economics at Brandeis University, draws on decades of research (and yes, AI tools to help research and draft the book!) to reveal how these forces are reshaping our world, and offers a practical map for what comes next.

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If you have more suggestions, share them in the comments below or contact us at info@inomics.com.

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