25 Blogs to Help Stay Smart on the Economy

Do you need some advice and tips on how to keep up on economic matters? Try these great 25 blogs below!

#1 Greg Manikiw’s Blog

Manikiw is a Harvard professor and chair of the economics department, and manages this blog to maintain a network with his former and current students, as well as students and instructors worldwide. The content is current and plain spoken.

#2 Real Time Economics

Shrewd analysis of the latest in economic news, along with a measured look at the past, present, and future of economic policy, is delivered under the auspices of the peerless Wall Street Journal.

#3 A Taxing Blog

Short and pithy entries in “regular guy” language are what you can expect from this blog, whose target audience is “shameless tax nerds.”

#4 The Eclectic Econoclast

John Palmer’s rather light-hearted posts belie acute inquiries into today’s top economic issues. Palmer’s expertise comes from his decades-long tenure as an economics professor at the University of Western Ontario, and is updated regularly.

#5 Angry Bear

This admittedly left-of center blog is chock full of content, with a newspaper-like layout, and a staff of highly qualified contributors. This one has everything you want to know about the economy (domestic and global), but have been afraid to ask.

#6 The Wilder View

Rebecca Wilder has worked in a wide array of fields within the economic world, including macroeconomics, international finance, education, and fixed income portfolio management. She applies her expertise largely to the Euro-Zone economy and its global impact.

#7 The Becker-Posner Blog

Gary Becker and Judge Richard Posner are a couple of economic rock stars, each with a fat sheaf of credentials. Their widely read blog is set apart by the collection of thoughtful articles, many of which engage one another, on a variety of pressing issues. If you’ve seen it on the news, you can count on reading about it in depth here.

#8 The Anti-Becker-Posner Blog

You might call this the Fox News to Becker-Posner’s CNN. Impossible to resist, this reactionary blog is managed by an anonymous host who invites readers’ contributions in his (or her) ongoing quest to dispel the “mistakes, omissions, and downright nonsense of the Becker-Posner Blog.”

#9 The Big Picture

At once clinical and easy to read, economy wonk, Barry Ritholtz cuts through the punditry, pours a glass of brandy, and tells it like it is. His numerous posts on the Fiscal Cliff are enough to earn him an award for this quarter’s top crusader for sanity.

#10 Seeking Alpha Market Currents

If you want up-to-the-minute data, this is the place for you. Seriously, there’s a new article about every five minutes. Posts here are short, dry, and open to reader commentary.

#11 Naked Capitalism

Naked Capitalism tempers its Keynesian bent with a cute animal photo each day. Articles here are equipped with jarring titles and unflinching analysis to back them up.

#12 Paul Krugman

Wry and witty, this New York Times columnist has some serious credentials, ranging from MIT to Princeton to, of course, the Times itself. Decidedly left-leaning, Krugman doesn’t let politics stand in the way of facts.

#13 Beat the Press

This blog, published under the aegis of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, is managed by economist Dean Baker, who is dedicated to reining in the “Chicken Little” punditry that seems to dominate the bulk of economic headlines.

#14 Clusterstock

This one is very topical, and vigorously maintained. This offshoot of the respected Business Insider features myriad articles ranging from analyses of the impact of the latest technological developments to profiles of leading economists.

#15 Abnormal Returns

Tadas Viskanta applies his twenty years of Wall Street experience to this investment blog.

#16 EconLog

This is a hub of information, defining and decoding today’s top economic issues.

#17 Knowledge Problem

Here’s one for the libertarians out there. This blog has a heavy focus on the economics of energy research, and a comprehensive list of topic covered in past posts is located below the blog roll.

#18 Samuel Brittan

This blog, written by a Financial Times columnist is a must-read for financial Anglophiles.

#19 Reasonable Bystanders

These bystanders are three professors of finance, and therefore, bring a critical financial analysis to each week’s economic news.

#20 Financial Armageddon

Don’t let the name (or the appearance) turn you away. Michael Panzner’s take on top economic concerns are thoughtful and interesting, and he has a podcast for those multi-taskers out there.

#21 A Taxing Matter

Linda M. Beale offers a cool and considered (albeit left-leaning) look at the far reaching implications of seemingly smaller issues. Beale does the research so you don’t have to.

#22 Freakonomics

If you haven’t heard of this, we’ll just assume you were raised by wolves. That said, you need this blog. This is the one to read before you go out for cocktails with the boss.

#23 The Capital Spectator

This no-frills blog is well maintained, well organized, and covers all things financial, economical, and investment-oriented.

#24 No Spin Forecast

While it may not be possible to write without spin, this blog nobly strives to be an objective resource for smart investors.

#25 A Dash of Insight

You might call this an interdisciplinary model for stock and trade enthusiasts.