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Does anyone of you could recommend me some good Macroeconomics and Microeconomics books based on your personal experience. I am an engineer and I do not have a background in Economics. I am planning to apply for a graduate school in Economics (MA if I am not qualified for a PhD as I already have a MSc in Engineering).

What would be the best way for me to learn some principles of economics and not to struggle if I get accepted into a graduate program while other graduate students have lots of experience and/or background in Economics? I just want to be on the same level with them at least during classes and be able to understand what is being given or taught.

I have looked it up on the internet, but people suggested all kind of books, but mostly intermediate and/or for those who already have background either in Economics or business related subjects. The future graduate programs want me to have a background in Microeconomics , Macroeconomics, and Econometrics at least...

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  • $\begingroup$ I flagged it as primarily opinion based but gave an answer anyways. Usually, you aren't supposed to ask these kinds of broad - opinion soliciting questions on here, but you seem to be genuinely considering an important decision so I think you deserve at least a few opinions. $\endgroup$
    – Sean Lambert
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 16:47
  • $\begingroup$ @SeanLambert I think the question is fine, but several similar questions with good answers already exist. So it is a duplicate. $\endgroup$
    – Giskard
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 16:49

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Although this question will be flagged and closed I assume, I would recommend getting a variety of texts. Mankiw has a good intermediate macro book, that can get you from zero to a foundation, however his introductory book isn't as good.

For econometrics, Woolridge gives a good bang for your buck, but I like Gujarati's basic econometrics as well. For time series, Enders' "Applied econometric time series" is my bible.

For micro I'm not as sure, I didn't have any great experiences with introductory texts. I can't really give a good opinion on the intermediate level either, as I've only used Varian's.

Once you get an idea of the concepts the best thing to do is to delve right into academic journals, so that you can start learning how to read them. Just that skill will help you be able to catch up fast.

I assume you're already strong in linear algebra and your other math, and some of your engineering will carry over to economics, especially your ability to think about minimizing and maximizing.

Good luck!

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