You may learn that many economics blogs also are politically aligned if they are not dedicated to unbiased teaching. The political leanings, in most cases, were not noted unless that perspective was included in a tagline, byline or overview on a site’s content. All the blogs listed below were listed in alphabetical order, a method that assures our readers that we do not favor one blog over another.

International Perspectives

Some of the economics blogs listed below are humorous and some are dead serious. Some are both. Very little middle ground.

1. Atlantic Blog: Thoughts on politics, economics and culture by William Sjostrom, an American economist in Ireland.
2. China Economics Blog: A place to find news about important issues for China’s economy including economic growth.
3. David Smith: This economics editor for the Sunday Times, London, hashes out his view on this blog.
4. EconLog: An independent division of the Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib), EconLog focuses on using topical books and the news to illustrate economic principles.
5. Economic Dreams – Economic Nightmares: Dave Iverson is an economist who loves nature. On this blog he tracks geopolitics and international finance.
6. Economics Roundtable: A compilation of opinions drawn from a wider variety of economics blogs than you may have thought possible. Your host is Professor William R. Parke of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
7. Heavy Lifting: One economist’s astute perspective on global economic issues.
8. Mises Economics Blog: Founded in 1982, the Mises Institute serves as the world’s leader provider of educational materials about the Austrian School of economics and libertarian political and social theory.
9. Organizations and Markets: Professors Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein created this blog in 2006 with a focus on organizational economics, strategic management, entrepreneurship, innovation, the economics of institutions, and the history, philosophy, and sociology of science. While academic, it also is global.
10. Stumbling and Mumbling: By all accounts an “extremist, not a fanatic,” this anonymous British blogger shines a different light upon economic topics.
11. The Adam Smith Institute Blog: The Adam Smith Institute is the UK’s leading politically independent and non-profit innovator of free-market economic and social policies.
12. The Austrian Economists: Discussion and expansion on public policy and ideological importance of the Austrian School of Economics.
13. Truck and Barter: Commentary on international economic issues, with a take where “sympathy and hedonism collide.”
14. VOXEU: Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists. They are partnering with the UK government to collect global perspectives on the G20.

Economics and Professors

Don’t let your fear of academics overwhelm you. These blogs are very user-friendly. In fact, some — such as “ABBA to Zeppelin, Led” — may interest and teach anyone about economic principles.

15. Cafe Hayek: Two George Mason economics professors talk about how economics affect everything from agriculture to work.
16. Carpe Diem: Professor Mark J. Perry, Flint campus of the University of Michigan, shares his thoughts on economics and finance.
17. Chicago Boyz: Some ‘Chicago Boyz’ know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name also is intended as a tribute to those who helped to liberalize Latin American economies.
18. Dani Rodrik’s weblog: Dan Rodrick, the Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, offers “unconventional thoughts on economic development and globalization.”
19. Division of Labour: The blogging is dividing up among several different writers from just as many different colleges and universities. Lean toward Adam Smith.
20. EclectEcon: Professor Palmer presents real-life examples to economic theory questions. Palmer teaches t the University of Western Ontario.
21. Econbrowser: Professor Hamilton, University of California, San Diego and Professor Chinn from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, offer their perspectives on current economic conditions and policy.
22. Economist’s View: Mark Thoma, from the Department of Economics at the University of Oregon, offers his perspectives on current economics.
23. Environmental Economics: Professor Haab, The Ohio State University, and Professor Whitehead from Appalachian State University, provide their perspectives, news and analysis on this topic.
24. FinanceProfessor.com: A light-hearted perspective on economics from an assistant professor at the St. Bonaventure University School of Business.
25. From ABBA to Zeppelin, Led: This site provides song lyrics as a means to teach economics. While seemingly whimsical, this site has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Economic Education.
26. Greg Mankiw’s Blog: Professor Mankiw from Harvard University uses this blog to stay in touch with current and former students.
27. Kids Prefer Cheese: A wildly popular tongue-in-cheek yet deadly serious look at economics, politics and the underbelly of life in general. Brought to you by Professors Munger (Duke University) and Grier (University of Oklahoma).
28. Law & Econ Prof Blog: Professor Bhandari from Florida Coastal School of Law talks about law and the economy.
29. Sabernomics: J.C. Bradbury is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004. (Go Cubs Go!)
30. Supply and Demand (in that order): Professor Mulligan (Chicago) uses a basic tool — the law of supply and demand — to frame economic issues. Also tackles fiscal policy, labor economics and industrial organization.
31. The Becker-Posner Blog: Professor Becker (University of Chicago) and Judge Posner (lecturer, University of Chicago Law School), provide their insights into law, politics and the economy.
32. Vox Baby: Professor Samwick from Dartmouth College presents his personal opinions about topics in economics, politics, and current events.
33. William J. Polley: This Assistant Professor of Economics at Western Illinois University offers commentary about economics and “whatever else catches my eye.”

General and/or Miscellaneous

The following blogs are “general and/or miscellaneous” only because they do not fit into the two categories above. Then again, some may fit into both categories…

34. Bleakonomy: News, musings, humor and spirituality about the world economy and its travails and exploitations brought to the Web by “professors, priests, poets, scientists, doctors, economists, students and unemployed artists.”
35. Capital Freedom: An anonymous blogger writes “a tribute to economic freedom and a commentary on the destruction thereof.”
36. Freakonomics: Based upon the book, Freakonomics, this blog is engineered to “keep the conversation going.”
37. Locker Room: The John Locke Foundation’s statewide (as in North Carolina) issues blog.
38. Knowledge Problem: Lynne Kiesling and Michael Giberson talk about economics and alternative and traditional energy policies.
39. Marginal Revolution: This is a popular site (linked from many other economics sites), and it could be the theoretical questions (Would Idaho have more people if it were a separate country?) as well as other assorted entries that makes this economics blog entertaining.
40. Market Power: A former Missouri grad and instructor, Phil Miller brings his take on economics and the power of markets to this blog.
41. Newmark’s Door: One economist’s take on life.
42. One-Handed Economist: Timothy currently is a Business Analyst for an independent Texas bank. The on-handed reference refers to a previous degree in economics and a current interest in science.
43. Reason Foundation: “Reason Foundation advances a free society by developing, applying, and promoting libertarian principles, including individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law.”
44. RGE Monitor: RGE Monitor delivers ahead-of-the-curve global economic insights that financial professionals need to know. Their analysts define the key economic and geostrategic debates and continuously distill the best thinking on all sides.
45. Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science: If you want to stumble across a blog that sticks to topics within its title, then you’ve discovered it.
46. Taking Hayek Seriously: This is the home of the Friedrich Hayek Scholars.
47. The Angry Economist: Russ Nelson, economist, has been “pissed” since 2003. He likes Bobby Jindal and wants to can Bernanke.
48. The Mess That Greenspan Made: Tim Iacono is a retired software engineer and, in addition to writing this blog, he also is the author of a weekly newsletter that focuses on investing in natural resources.
49. The Sports Economist: Smart and witty economic commentary on sports and society.
50. tutor2u: tutor2u is the “leading publisher of e-learning resources for economics” and for other topics as well.

But just as important, in my opinion, is checking out new blogs. New bloggers with fresh voices (and great articles) pop up every month, and the very best of these are worth subscribing to. Meanwhile, there are still many popular, established PF bloggers that I haven’t had the time to check out yet.

So whether you’re trying to beef up your daily reading list, or trim it down–or even start one anew–I think it’s helpful to look at some of the better “top finance blogger” lists, to sift through the noise and get to the juicy signal. I’ve collected links to the best five such lists that I found, with a note/quote for each list.

Financial Ramblings: 150+ Personal Finance Blogs: who are the busiest bloggers, the longest lasting, and the most popular?

Why go to all this work? Well, it was fun, and some other people thought it was fun, so who am I to get in the way of fun? But practically, I discovered a ton of great blogs! Plus, I re-discovered a few that were not in my feed reader and should have been. Maybe you can find some new blogs, too.

WiseBread: Top 100+ Personal Finance Blogs – Sorted by Alexa Rank

The default view shows the top personal finance blogs ranked by traffic (Alexa). You can also rank these blogs by most incoming blog links, most subscribers, most link authority, and the best Compete Scores. This chart is updated daily.

the Dk report: Top 30 Financial Blogs

I compiled of 30 popular financial blogs. The ranking is measured against all US websites in the Alexa universe, blogs or otherwise… For this list, I excluded the huge financial behemoths, and to make the cut, each blog had to be ranked in the top 1,000,000 most popular US websites.

PopTopRanks: Personal Finance

This is a directory of top sites listed by popularity, where popularity is determined by the number of feed subscribers. Sites are listed according to their subject and we provide the sites’ most recent headlines.

reportonbusiness.com: Best of the Blogs

The popularity of investment blogging continues to grow. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of bloggers pumping out timely financial analysis and opinion. So who’s worth reading? Our Globe bloggers, columnists and hedge fund manager/blogger Howard Lindzon share their five favourites.

And there you go. I just created an hour’s worth of homework for you (scanning all of the above lists), and gave you 10 years worth of future reading.

Obviously it’s all speculation at this point, considering how both political-economic discourse seem to be getting further “out there” with each passing day. But I thought it’d be interesting to collect some bloggers’ opinions and predictions.

FiveCentNickel:

“I’m lying about the Magic 8 Ball, but it seems that the underlying message is on point. As of right now, there’s no evidence to suggest that a second stimulus check is on the way.”

Bargaineering:

“At this point, it’s merely political fodder and we shouldn’t expect another stimulus check, just that there have been discussions of one. As anyone who has watched Congress work can attest to, there are plenty of discussions in Washington that lead nowhere.”

FrugalDad:

Perhaps a second stimulus payment would spur economic spending, but I’d rather “the invisible hand” allow this to happen naturally, and without the artificial inflation of disposable income from yet another economic stimulus check.

Moolanamy:

By handing out these checks, I think our government is just trying to keep us happy; instead of doing the right thing… You may not see it immediately, but handing out money now could mean getting less somewhere else later (e.g., infrastructure, social programs, education, environment, etc.), or it could mean higher taxes down the road, or it could result in inflation.

BibleMoneyMatters:

“Now I’m not one to turn down a check if they’re going to be sending it my way anyway, but where exactly is this money coming from? Could it be that in addition to a second stimulus rebate check we’ll also be receiving higher taxes?”

The last quote in particular makes me chuckle a bit, cycnically. As someone whose income level will ensure I never get this type of handout from Uncle Sam, I can’t help but be a little happy that the above bloggers aren’t predicting the second stimulus check. There’s no such thing as “free money”, unless you print it, legislate it away from other people, or out-and-out steal it. Let’s stop looking to others to solve our problems, and get back to self-reliant basics: start an emergency fund; establish a budget; spend less than you earn! A lifetime of bad habits got us into this mess, and only the establishment of good habits–as a country, and as individuals–will get us out of it.