Recommended Reading
A cosmopolitan reading list for thinking clearly about economics, institutions, and liberal democracy.
Eccentric Econ is written from a broadly cosmopolitan, classical liberal perspective—one that values open societies, institutional constraints, pluralism, and careful reasoning over slogans or tribal alignment.
The newsletters below are not endorsements of every argument they make.
They are writers and publications that consistently engage with ideas in good faith, take institutions seriously, and resist populist simplifications.
If you read Eccentric Econ, you will likely find these worthwhile.
Core Liberal & Anti-Populist Commentary
The UnPopulist
A leading voice in cosmopolitan, anti-populist liberalism.
Strong on trade, immigration, democratic norms, and the moral case for open societies—without resorting to hysteria or tribalism.
→ https://theunpopulist.substack.com/
The Watch — Radley Balko
Essential reading on civil liberties, state power, and institutional failure.
An exemplar of liberal skepticism grounded in evidence rather than ideology.
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Economics & Policy (Serious, Non-Populist)
Noahpinion — Noah Smith
Wide-ranging commentary on economics, industrial policy, and growth.
Not all readers will agree with every conclusion, but it’s an important hub of contemporary liberal economic debate.
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Slow Boring — Matthew Yglesias
Pragmatic liberal policy analysis with an emphasis on trade-offs and institutional bottlenecks.
Particularly useful for understanding how policy constraints shape outcomes.
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Full Stack Economics — Timothy B. Lee
Clear, accessible analysis at the intersection of economics, technology, and public policy.
A good example of separating mechanism from advocacy.
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Economic Structure, Data, and Theory
Economic Forces
Focused on price theory, economic fundamentals, and first-principles reasoning.
A strong complement to institutional and framework-based analysis.
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Apricitas Economics
Empirical, data-driven analysis of macroeconomic and labor market trends.
Especially useful for readers who value careful interpretation of economic statistics.
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Aggregation & Broader Discourse
Best of EconTwitter
A curated digest of economic insights from across the discipline.
Useful for discovering new voices and tracking ongoing debates—best consumed selectively.
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How This List Is Meant to Be Used
This list is not about agreement.
It is about standards.
The writers above tend to:
Take institutions seriously
Recognize trade-offs
Avoid populist shortcuts
Treat disagreement as normal and healthy
That orientation is shared by Eccentric Econ.
A Note on Disagreement
Economic and political disagreement is inevitable—and desirable.
What matters is whether disagreement is handled with:
Intellectual honesty
Empirical care
Respect for liberal norms
These publications meet that bar.
Why I Read These
I don’t read these newsletters because I agree with every argument they make. I read them because they take ideas seriously, treat disagreement as normal, and operate within broadly liberal norms of inquiry.
Each of these writers is willing to ask what actually constrains outcomes—institutions, incentives, political economy, or measurement—rather than assuming that good intentions or bad actors explain everything. That discipline matters, especially in economics and public policy.
Reading across this set also helps guard against intellectual complacency. Some emphasize moral clarity, others institutional realism, others empirical rigor. The tension between those approaches is productive. It forces me to sharpen my own thinking and to distinguish between values, mechanisms, and trade-offs.
That’s the same standard I try to apply in Eccentric Econ:
to be open rather than tribal, analytical rather than performative, and liberal without being naïve.