A-level textbook Alain Anderton’s Economics most popular book at Bank of England

The book's fifth edition is used for Edexcel exams

Kashmira Gander
Monday 23 March 2015 19:31 GMT
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The Bank of England said it held copies of the textbook to support staff studying for A levels or other courses
The Bank of England said it held copies of the textbook to support staff studying for A levels or other courses

The most-checked-out book amongst the tomes of the Bank of England library is a textbook written for college students, it has been revealed.

Suggesting that even experts may need to remind themselves of the basics from time-to-time, a list obtained by The Times following a Freedom of Information Act request showed that the fifth edition of A-Level students’ favourite Alain Anderton‘s Economics was the most issued book in the Bank’s information centre last year.

Used by A-Level economics students studying for Edexcel exams, the book’s blurb boasts it is “comprehensive, accessible and flexible” and “full diagrams with concise explanations.”

The book, published in 2008 at the height of the financial crash, was checked out and renewed 33 times last year.

Mr Anderton told The Times: “The economists at the Bank of England are top-notch,” he said. “They certainly don’t need to read my book.”

The Bank explained the findings by saying it held copies of the textbook to support staff studying for A levels or other courses.

Perhaps the most cringe-worthy book on the list is The Bankers’ New Clothes by Anat Admati, adviser to a US financial regulator, which claimed joint seventh place. In January, Admati accused the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, of misleading the public by suggesting that progress had been made tackling the too-big-to-fail banks.

A book lauded as the definitive history of financial crashes, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, co-authored by Kenneth Rogoff, also made the list, as did Wrong: Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn from Them by Richard Grossman.

The Bank of England, which has not yet responded to contact by The Independent, told The Times that the institution feels like an “academic environment as much as a professional one” and must allow its talented staff to develop and learn.

The findings come after a FOI request last year last year revealed that the most popular book in the Houses of Parliament library was How Parliament Works by Roger Roberts, MailOnline reported.

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