In Homer Economicus a cast of lively contributors takes a field trip to Springfield, where the Simpsons reveal that economics is everywhere. By exploring the hometown of television's first family, this book provides readers with the economic tools and insights to guide them at work, at home, and at the ballot box.
Since The Simpsons centers on the daily lives of the Simpson family and its colorful neighbors, three opening chapters focus on individual behavior and decision-making, introducing readers to the economic way of thinking about the world. Part II guides readers through six chapters on money, markets, and government. A third and final section discusses timely topics in applied microeconomics, including immigration, gambling, and health care as seen in The Simpsons. Reinforcing the nuts and bolts laid out in any principles text in an entertaining and culturally relevant way, this book is an excellent teaching resource that will also be at home on the bookshelf of an avid reader of pop economics.
Autorentext
Joshua C. Hall is Associate Professor of Economics at West Virginia University. Formerly an Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, he is a co-author of the widely-cited Economic Freedom of the World reports and author of over 50 articles in journals. Hall has taught principles of microeconomics throughout his career.
Inhalt
Using the characters of The Simpsons and their lives in the town of Springfield, this chapter outlines the fundamental concepts of the economic way of thinking. Economics is built on a core set of principles that must be mastered before meaningful economic analysis can be performed. Ten principles are outlined that provide the starting point for basic economic reasoning. These principles are then illustrated with numerous examples drawn from the actions and interactions of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the rest of the residents of Springfield.
This chapter uses examples from The Simpsons to further illustrate the supply and demand sides of the market, with special emphasis on the market as a process. The most basic lessons of economics are that incentives matter, information about the value of scarce resources is necessary, and accurate feedback is required for individuals to make prudent decisions. Property rights are important because they produce incentives, prices provide information, and profit and loss accounting gives feedback to decision makers. The competitive price system steers economic activity via the structure of incentives and the flow of information so that dispersed individuals within a society will coordinate their plans, and they will do so in such a way that in the limit all the gains from exchange will be exhausted and all least-cost methods of production will be utilized.
Public policies have unintended consequences and can sometimes actually be counterproductive. In some cases, public policies hurt exactly the people a policy is intended to help. The Simpsons episode "King-Size Homer" illustrates how policies have unintended consequences-and how people respond to incentives-by telling us the story of how Homer Simpson ballooned up to three hundred pounds in order to take advantage of disability regulations. Furthermore, this episode shows how changing incentives might cause people to make more self-destructive decisions in the short run. The episode illustrates a number of important economic principles, including trade-offs, marginal analysis, the role of incentives, and the law of unintended consequences.
This chapter presents a discussion of the functions of money and its evolution in the United States using examples from The Simpsons. Money is something that is generally accepted as a means of payment for goods and services. It functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value. Milhouse fears that he will be used like "currency" in juvenile hall in the episode "Trilogy of Error." Actually, Milhouse does not possess the properties that would make a good candidate for money. Money arises from commodities that are widely valued, portable, divisible, and durable. In "Half-Decent Proposal" Homer laments that he cannot print his own money. Homer is 100 percent correct, but it's not only the government that can print money. In fact, private banks create the majority of new money in the United States economy.
This chapter employs numerous examples from The Simpsons to explain the calculation of economic profits and highlight the role of said profits in society. The importance of the opportunity cost concept, often ignored by Homer Simpson, is emphasized throughout the chapter. The differences between accounting costs and economic costs are discussed through examples in which Homer fails to recognize opportunity costs and refuses to recognize other costs associated with operating a business. The critical function of profits and losses in a market economy are explained, with special emphasis on the signals that economic profits and losses provide for market participants. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of the impact of barriers to entry on economic profit and profit opportunities.
This chapter introduces and discusses the theoretical and empirical body of research on entrepreneurship. The occupational, structural, and functional approaches to the study of entrepreneurship are discussed and illustrated using many thoughtful entrepreneurial experiences from The Simpsons. In addition, the meaning of entrepreneurship as judgment, alertness, innovation, adaptation, and coordination or leadership is demonstrated. Finally, the difference between productive, unproductive, and destructive entrepreneurship is distinguished. The chapter is intended as an introduction to the vast entrepreneurship literature and its many approaches, theories, and interpretations.
Modern economists have identified four main types of market failure: monopoly, public goods, asymmetric information, and externalities. This chapter takes a closer look at the first three types of market failure and, using examples from The Simpsons, illustrates how market mechanisms can overcome those market failure problems. Coolsville Comics, a competing comic book store, destroys the Android's Dungeon's monopoly for comic books in Springfield. Elinor Ostrom, the recent Nobel Prize winner in economics, has illustrated that local self-governance institutions can overcome public goods and commons problems. Efficiency wages easily overcome moral hazard problems that result from asymmetric information problems, such as Bart shirking on the job. Finally, gossip and brand names, such as Duff Beer, overcome adverse selection problems in Springfield and the real world.
This chapter will deal primarily with illustrating the concept of externalities in econom…