Game Economics

I have a suggestion. Maybe instead of doing deep research into economics you should make it a little bit more topical.
Economics can be a rough subject even for those that enjoy it. The game might be better served if study headlines of economic changes when associated with politics. The news cycle can be more enjoyable to study. The game sounds like a good idea but if you make it too cerebral it might not be as appealing.

"Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by von Neumann and Morgenstern.

Check youtube materials on Milton Friedman, who assisted several presidents on economics (but he is a Nobel prize winning doctor)
It will tell you a lot about current economics from one consistent viewpoint (maximum freedom)
example: "Milton Friedman - Rights of Workers (Q&A)", which is a part of his old TV series on economics.

Being an economist student myself (but micro/experimental oriented) I must tell you this:
If you can build a simulation that works like reality then you are a genious and would instantly get the "nobel" price!!
The sad thing is, economists just don't know... there are millions of factors so that equal actions in two seemingly equal situations can have totally different effects on the economy...
We micro guys have it a bit easier since we are looking at individuals but still we actually suck in predicting behavior (since people are quite complicated, too ;) ).

How does this help you? Hmm I think you should focus on very simple mechanics like supply - demand, production costs of goods, limited ressources etc...

As a book why not just something like "economics for dummies". That should capture basic mechanics (that might or might not be a correct description of the world) and therefore be good enough (I didn't read the book though, but like the dummie series in general).

Friedmann is also just from one "school" of economics (I'm no expert there though) and the above mentioned "Theory of games and economic behavior" is more about strategy. (even though very interesting). But nevertheless I think youtube videos of such guys can give you a relatively good understanding of something like interest rates and stuff.

If you want to go a bit deeper some simple first semester economics slides would be a good starting point, or there might be some open lectures on youtube /different university sites! (wanted to search for such forever now..)

Hope it helps!!

Well what is used (at least in germany) for basic macro courses is the book
"Macroeconomics" by Nicholas Gr. Mankiw. But this contains many of these "old" models... but actually might also give you some basic understanding!

It's definitely easy to read.

The other thing you'll have to keep in mind is that by simplifying and instantiating these mechanics in a game you'll have to find a way to easily display the information while also making it a fun mechanic, public opinion regarding policy shifts is likely going to be a nightmare to do that with.

This is mildly off topic, but it is an example of a game where player choice interacts with public opinion in a reasonable way.

Only game I've ever played that seemed to do it well was, hilariously enough, Xcom: enemy unknown.

As a brief rundown in case you're unfamiliar: Aliens are invading! Oh no! You lead a multi-national force tasked with combating said threat. There are always more mission requests than you can complete in a time frame, and which ones you do raise or lower both global panic and individual country panic (in xcom, panic is public opinion). If a particular country becomes too panicked, they withdraw their financial and personnel support from the project, and if too many withdraw, you lose the game.

Back on topic, I took a fairly interesting course in college that used a text called: Introduction to International Political Economy by Balaam and Dillman. It gave a pretty good overview of the many different perspectives from which to analyze macro economics (lazzie-faire, mercantilist, Marxist, etc.). Added bonus, the 5th edition is available in paperback! I don't know if it's exactly what you want though, since it doesn't actually get into the math behind the viewpoints much.