Economics: History of Economic Thought 
Essential
The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (CEE)
This encyclopedia contains articles by leading economists on basic concepts, economic systems, schools of economic thought, macroeconomics, economic policy, taxes, money and banking, economic regulation, environmental regulation, discrimination, labor issues, international economics, corporations, financial markets, the marketplace, the economics of special markets, economies outside the U.S., and biographies of famous economists.
Selected Essays on Political Economy
By Frédéric Bastiat: "Bastiat directed his arguments against certain ever recurring fallacies as they were employed in his time. Few people would employ them today quite as naively as it was still possible to do then. But let the reader not deceive himself that these same fallacies no longer play an important role in contemporary economic discussion: they are today expressed merely in a more sophisticated form and are therefore more difficult to detect."- F.A. Hayek
Economic Sophisms
By Frédéric Bastiat: "Bastiat was not primarily an original economic theorist. What he was, beyond all other men, was an economic pamphleteer, the greatest exposer of economic fallacies, the most powerful champion of free trade on the European Continent."- Henry Hazlitt
The Tide in the Affairs of Men
By Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman: "The aim of this brief essay is to present a hypothesis that a major change in social and economic policy is preceded by a shift in the climate of intellectual opinion. The intellectual tide is spread to the public by all manner of intellectual retailers: teachers and preachers, journalists in print and on television, pundits and politicians. "
The Freedom Philosophy
This anthology includes 14 essays on the political, economic, and moral foundations of a free society. These classic writings by Leonard E. Read, Frank Chodorov, Benjamin Rogge, F. A. Harper, among others, demonstrate the superiority of individual choice and capitalism over any forms of collectivism.
Intellectuals and Socialism
"In 1949, Hayek attributed the dominant position of planning in the West to the role of intellectuals, by which he meant 'professional second-hand dealers in ideas' such as journalists and commentators."
Frederic Bastiat - What is Seen and What is Not Seen
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
By Ludwig von Mises: "This book must rank as the most devastating analysis of socialism yet penned… . An economic classic in our time." - Henry Hazlitt
Milton Friedman on "Greed"
In an interview with Phil Donahue, Milton Friedman explains why societies have historically always flourished when they've embraced a political and economic system that encourages economic self-interest -- "greed."
Recommended
New on Free Will: Bruce Caldwell on Hayek
"This week, I talk with Bruce Caldwell, author of Hayek’s Challenge, a wonderfully lucid, comprehensive, and penetrating account of the development of Hayek’s economic and methodological ideas. Hayek is one of my enthusiasms, so I had a great time talking to Bruce, who knows as much about Hayek as anyone." - Will Wilkinson
The Klein Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Polemics
By Johan Norberg: "To make her case, Klein exaggerates the free-market reforms that take place in times of crisis, often by ignoring central events and rewriting chronologies. She uses loose metaphors and wild distortions to claim that free markets are a form of violence. She confuses libertarianism with corporatism and neoconservatism and blames Milton Friedman for encouraging reform by stealth. To do so, she engages in one of the most malevolent distortions of a thinker that has been done in a major work in recent years."
McCloskey on Capitalism and the Bourgeois Virtues
"Deirdre McCloskey of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of The Bourgeois Virtues talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about capitalism and whether markets make people more ethical or less. They also discuss Adam Smith's world view, whether people were nicer in the Middle Ages, and the role of prudence and love."
The Ultimate Scholar
By Donald J. Boudreaux: "Last Friday, Feb. 8, marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the great economist Julian Simon. Although he never received the professional or popular acclaim of economists such as Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson or F.A. Hayek, Simon's insights and work rank with those of history's greatest social scientists."
Boettke on Austrian Economics
Pete Boettke, of George Mason University, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the origins and tenets of Austrian economics.
Creative Destruction's Reconstruction: Joseph Schumpeter Revisited
By J. Bradford Delong: "Perhaps this next century will give Schumpeter's work its proper place as the power of innovation to transform, create, enrich, and destroy makes itself manifest globally. And while we marvel at how much he got right, we can hope Schumpeter was wrong in his political analysis. One great test of our era will be whether creative destruction can flourish alongside public order and political liberty."
Adam Smith - A Primer
"Despite his fame, there is still widespread ignorance about the breadth of Adam Smith’s contributions to economics, politics and philosophy. In Adam Smith – A Primer, Eamonn Butler provides an authoritative introduction to the life and work of this ‘founder of economics’. "
Why We Trade
By Russell Roberts: "We’re used to shrugging off all sorts of rhetorical gobbledygook from our politicians. But when you hear U.S. presidential candidates start to mouth off about free trade, watch your wallet: A discredited 14th-century theory of economics is enjoying a dangerous renaissance in the 2008 campaign. "
The Question of Monopolies
By Nathaniel Branden. A reader asks "In a society of laissez-faire capitalism, what would prevent the formation of powerful monopolies able to gain control over the entire economy?"
McCraw on Schumpeter, Innovation, and Creative Destruction
"Thomas McCraw of Harvard University talks about the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter from his book, Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction. McCraw and EconTalk host Russ Roberts discuss innovation, business strategy, the role of mathematics in economics, and Schumpeter's vision of competition embodied in his most important idea--creative destruction."
The History of Economic Thought Website
This web site serves as a repository of collected links and information on the history of economic thought, from the ancient times until the modern day. It is designed for students and the general public, who are interested in learning about economics from a historical perspective.
The Tradition of Spontaneous Order
By Norman Barry: It is not that the theory of spontaneous order precludes planning as such; it is that only planning by individuals in decentralized markets will tend towards an optimal use of knowledge. The central planner has only that knowledge available to him, which is less than that which is co-ordinated among all the agents in a market process. Furthermore, because the future is unknowable, a system that relies on liberty allows for the accidental and spontaneous.