Most important thing to know about economics, from Mankiw & studying economics both at school and uni:
(1) Resources are limited, but our desire is unlimited. The function of the market is to find the equilibrium amount of each thing to produce, at a certain price. Also, there is always a market, even if money is totally removed. We will always have things to divide up between us.
(2) The demand/supply curve. It honestly is unbelievably important and you won’t understand the fundamentals until you understand this, imo. Marx didn’t understand the economy because he didn’t understand this, he only understood the supply part of the equation (a friend who took the history of economic thought & passed his notes onto me taught me this). Practice using this to understand a government policy that impacts the market, think through what it does to prices, volumes, and the curves themselves.
Basic accounting concepts and terminology is also quite useful, as another commenter said.
Then the function of the central banks, why they do what they do, and how.
I do recommend, to understand the GFC, Reading “Financial Accounting Theory”, by William R. Scott, pages 9-15 (section 1.3). If you want to understand dodgy accounting, this is also a good book.
Aside from Mankiw’s principles of Microeconomics, Bernanke’s Principles of Macroeconomics is also good.
Basic accounting concepts and terminology is also quite useful, as another commenter said. Then the function of the central banks, why they do what they do, and how.
I do recommend, to understand the GFC, Reading “Financial Accounting Theory”, by William R. Scott, pages 9-15 (section 1.3). If you want to understand dodgy accounting, this is also a good book. Aside from Mankiw’s principles of Microeconomics, Bernanke’s Principles of Macroeconomics is also good.