The topic of economics is rich with great writing, and many books have been published over the years which tackle economic issues for a popular audience. Here is our list of ten of the best books in the area of economics. Many of the books here are bestsellers, but we have included a few lesser-known titles that have had an important impact on how the public perceives economics. Some titles, too, are interdisciplinary, combining science, psychology and economics to explain history and human processes; others are narratives of events.

Few would contest it has been the ideology of our political age. Ever since the 1980s, it has dominated western politics, underpinning governance, influencing culture, and leaving its indelible mark across society. During this time its core tenets were rarely challenged and only its peripheral aspects tweaked. The 2008 financial crash, however, changed this, shaking confidence in an ideology whose name, up until that point, was rarely ever spoken.

The carriers must pay attention to their passport validity An erection of a harder border between the UK and EU involves not only changes in customs work, fees and tax calculations, and other money-related issues, but a lot of small details, many of which were previously ignored by carriers, and which are now critically important. 

The current moment is one defined by crisis. It can be found everywhere: in the climate, economy, mental health, even in democracy. It’s so ubiquitous as to have almost become the new norm. Amid the chaos, politics has struggled to keep up, its landscape is in permanent shift, its rulebook long thrown away. New formations have emerged, metastasized, sometimes died, and occasionally taken over - developments often surprising and hard to make sense of. What’s clear, though, is that polarisation has set in.

As claims go, Francis Fukuyama’s insistence that history’s run its course has aged rather badly. The ascent of China, the Great Recession, spiralling inequality across the West, and now COVID-19, have all, in their own way, undermined his notion that capitalist liberal democracy is the political endgame. If anything, political choice seems to be expanding. People are increasingly being offered the opportunity to continue with capitalism, occasionally of the nativist variety and sometimes strictly neoliberal, or, alternatively, to try a little socialism.

The damage wrought by COVID, far from equalising, has been pointedly prejudiced. While the virus itself may struggle to differentiate between people, the world in which it operates has no such problem. Indeed, its structures have ensured COVID’s disruption of employment has fallen unevenly across regions - the experience of economists a case in point.

Getting published. It's the bane of many economists' lives, and it's never been so important. Jobs, tenure, not to mention reputation, all now heavily rely on getting published, often regularly. Unsurprisingly, given its importance, there's much to consider when approaching journals. Where your work is published can have a huge effect on how it's perceived, how many people it reaches, and what kind of profile engages with it.

That the world of work has radically changed we know, we see it before our eyes: kitchens have replaced offices; pyjamas, suits; and housemates often now fill the space previously occupied by colleagues. But how have these changes - and others - been felt by economists around the world? Through a textual analysis undertaken in the INOMICS Salary Survey, we answer that question and, in doing so, paint an anecdotal picture of economists’ COVID experience.

Inequality is rampant, we hardly need telling. Rarely does the print media pass up an opportunity to remind us. We stand inundated by an endless stream of statistics – on scales barely fathomable – each one more depressing than the last. For instance, it’s widely known that: ‘8% of humanity takes home 50% of global income’; that ‘the top 1% own 45% of the world’s wealth’; and how could we forget that ‘the 26 richest people on earth had the same net worth as the poorest half’.

A couple of steps short of humanitarian disaster and incalculable damage to the environment At the end of the year around Christmas, up to 10,000 trucks headed from Dover to Calais via the Eurotunnel. When France suddenly closed its border with the UK, all trucks and their drivers that were still in Britain got stranded in the ports without any information about when they would be able to continue their journeys, and without food or access to essential hygiene facilities.

Less than a year on from COVID’s genome sequencing, vaccination programs are being rolled out around the world. And while the pandemic is far from over, it would appear we’re approaching its endgame, arriving there faster than anyone dared hope. The previous fastest ever vaccine to be developed was for Mumps - and that took four years.

As has been recently documented on INOMICS, students across the world face a mental health crisis of unprecedented proportions. Columnist James Matthew Alston investigated the phenomenon, looking particularly at university responses - his conclusions made for tough reading.

The holidays are coming up soon, with Christmas just around the corner. If you want to avoid last-minute panicked present-buying, you had better get to planning the gifts you'll be giving. And what if you have an economist in your life? What would be the perfect gift for them? We're here to help your Christmas gift woes with some fun suggestions for the 10 best gift ideas for an economist. Happy holidays!

Hundreds of thousands of ship crew members who leave their ships every month to go home after a voyage have not been able to do so during a pandemic. Most ports have imposed restrictions on ships and their crews, with around 120 countries imposing restrictions and 92 completely banning crew changes, according to Inchcape Shipping Services.

Although we’ve been told time and again that the pandemic doesn’t care about who you are, in reality it hasn’t affected everyone equally. Senior Editor William Pearse has already written about how COVID-19 has been harder on those from ethnic minorities and on poorer communities in the UK.

In 2020, INOMICS once again carried out its salary survey, examining the state and health of the economics profession worldwide. As in previous years, the survey considered pay, sector, seniority, location, gender and educational background. Our 2020 survey was launched in the spring as cases of coronavirus began to increase exponentially around the world. Consequently, we added new questions related to the coronavirus pandemic to assess the effect of the crisis on economists and economics students.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) stipulates that the primary responsibility for vessels lies with the flag state of the vessel. Consequently, this means that each merchant vessel must be registered under the flag of a specific state. The flag state of the vessel is responsible for the inspection of the vessel and compliance with safety, pollution prevention, crew certification and international standards.

Halloween is probably one of the best occasions to demonstrate how seriously you take yourself (or not!) and how far your creativity can go to show it. If you think that Halloween is below your intellectual level, well, they say that even Paul Krugman threw one economics-themed party, where “two guests came as Asian tigers, several came as hedge funds, one woman came as capital, dressed as a column..."

Economics is serious business, but sometimes we all need a break! And that's when the internet is there: to sympathise, to commiserate, and to make us smile at the end of a tough day. Fortunately the stereotype of economists being humourless is not true – there are plenty of fun and funny economists who are out there sharing their humour. From students to senior professors, there are memes on the internet to express all aspects of the study and practice of economics. Below you'll find 10 of our favourite memes that we know all economists will love!

Is economics a useful tool for maintaining peace? Can nations use economic policies to avoid war? With globalization an established fact of modern politics, this question is more important than ever. In this piece, we'll consider arguments both for and against. Browse our PhD program listings for economics

Speaking of current issues under the influence of COVID-19, events on the water, or sea, which is another parallel world with its written and unwritten laws, are somewhat undeservedly forgotten. Looking at the latest data, we need to talk about a very worrying trend over the last year. Although global maritime piracy is not as high as between 2009 and 2012, in 2020 the number of pirate attacks and attempts has increased by 24% compared to 2019.

According to the International Chamber of Shipping, more than 50,000 container ships are currently active in the oceans. These are large vessels that carry cargo in closed containers. The capacity of a container ship is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), while a vessel with a capacity of more than 20,000 TEU is defined as a very large container ship.

‘Chance dominates the game’ concluded C. Reep and B. Benjamin in their 1968 study ‘Skill and Chance in Association Football’ - and not without consequence. Until recently, this statement stood as received wisdom, the phrase deemed self-evident, its veracity left unquestioned. Predictions based on statistics were a folly they said, the game was ‘too fluid, too unpredictable’.

The European Union (EU) is working very hard to make ship recycling greener and safer in the future. It is quite clear that the dismantling of ships in many parts of South Asia in its current state is not acceptable, either from an environmental or a social point of view. Ship recycling regulations, adopted seven years ago, are finally gathering pace now.

The COVID-19 crisis has hit hard enough and continues to affect the global container shipping market. The current economic situation does not give much hope for a short-term recovery of this market. Demand for container shipments has fallen sharply, especially as China closed much of its plants in February 2020. The volume of production or cargo to be exported to other countries plummeted. The situation was exacerbated by a number of restrictions and requirements in almost every industry and in the world's ports.