Given that the neo-Keynesians are abjectly failing again (last time was the stagflation of the '70s) and that much of the world is now acknowledging this after trying 3 or so years of their snake oil remedies (e.g. note the recent G8/G20 fireworks, and it's been two decades for the Japanese), recommending that anyone read them as more than historical curiosities---important ones, I grant you---strikes me as fatuous.
(ADDED: OK, they're relevant today because they provide a convenient excuse for politicians to do something the latter love, to spend lots of money to get re-elected (see second paragraph of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1465384 or any of the Great Depression histories that break out where the New Deal money was actually spent (three guesses)) ... but then again, does a beginner need to know anything more than that they offer an excuse for borrowing lots of money to then spend?
OK, yes, there's a bit more: the US Stimulus bill isn't even proper neo-Keynesian economics because of how slowly it's being spent and where much of the money is going; the multiplier is almost certainly negative. That does help in understanding how we got to today's situation. But I'm pretty sure if you read very much Austrian economics this will be covered.)
The Austrians are still making sense in our "modern" situation (is it really very much more modern than when they developed it in the last century???) and are still worth reading and even potentially adopting as the school you'll follow.
Studying the Chicago/monetarist school is important, although I would put them second after the Austrians.
(ADDED: OK, they're relevant today because they provide a convenient excuse for politicians to do something the latter love, to spend lots of money to get re-elected (see second paragraph of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1465384 or any of the Great Depression histories that break out where the New Deal money was actually spent (three guesses)) ... but then again, does a beginner need to know anything more than that they offer an excuse for borrowing lots of money to then spend?
OK, yes, there's a bit more: the US Stimulus bill isn't even proper neo-Keynesian economics because of how slowly it's being spent and where much of the money is going; the multiplier is almost certainly negative. That does help in understanding how we got to today's situation. But I'm pretty sure if you read very much Austrian economics this will be covered.)
The Austrians are still making sense in our "modern" situation (is it really very much more modern than when they developed it in the last century???) and are still worth reading and even potentially adopting as the school you'll follow.
Studying the Chicago/monetarist school is important, although I would put them second after the Austrians.