Understand the science of wealth and prosperity
* Find FREE quizzes for every chapter online
* Learn about good markets, bad monopolies, and inflation
* Decode budget deficits and trade gains
This book gives you everything you need to understand our rapidly evolving economy--as well as the economic fundamentals that never change. What's the best way to fight poverty? How can governments spur employment and wage growth? What can be done to protect endangered species and the environment? This book explains the answers to those questions--and many more--in plain English.
Inside...
* Get the fascinating scoop on behavioral economics
* Understand the model of supply and demand
* See how governments use monetary and fiscal policy to fight recessions
* Discover game theory and the secrets of cooperation
Autorentext
Klappentext
Understand the science of wealth and prosperity
* Find FREE quizzes for every chapter online
* Learn about good markets, bad monopolies, and inflation
* Decode budget deficits and trade gains
This book gives you everything you need to understand our rapidly evolving economy--as well as the economic fundamentals that never change. What's the best way to fight poverty? How can governments spur employment and wage growth? What can be done to protect endangered species and the environment? This book explains the answers to those questions--and many more--in plain English.
Inside...
* Get the fascinating scoop on behavioral economics
* Understand the model of supply and demand
* See how governments use monetary and fiscal policy to fight recessions
* Discover game theory and the secrets of cooperation
Zusammenfassung
- Find FREE quizzes for every chapter online
- Learn about good markets, bad monopolies, and inflation
- Decode budget deficits and trade gains
This book gives you everything you need to understand our rapidly evolving economyas well as the economic fundamentals that never change. What's the best way to fight poverty? How can governments spur employment and wage growth? What can be done to protect endangered species and the environment? This book explains the answers to those questionsand many morein plain English.
Inside
- Get the fascinating scoop on behavioral economics
- Understand the model of supply and demand
- See how governments use monetary and fiscal policy to fight recessions
- Discover game theory and the secrets of cooperation
Inhalt
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity 5
Chapter 1: What Economics Is and Why You Should Care 7
Considering a Little Economic History 8
Pondering just how nasty, brutish, and short life used to be 8
Identifying the institutions that raise living standards 9
Looking toward the future 10
Framing Economics as the Science of Scarcity 10
Sending Microeconomics and Macroeconomics to
Separate Corners 11
Getting up close and personal: Microeconomics 11
Zooming out: Macroeconomics and the big picture 14
Understanding How Economists Use Models and Graphs 16
Introducing your first model: The demand curve 17
Drawing your own demand curve 20
Chapter 2: Cookies or Ice Cream? Exploring Consumer Choices 21
Describing Human Behavior with a Choice Model 22
Pursuing Personal Happiness 23
Using utility to measure happiness 23
Taking selfless actions into account 23
Self-interest can promote the common good 24
You Can't Have Everything: Examining Limitations 25
Resource constraints 25
Technology constraints 25
Time constraints 26
Opportunity cost: The unavoidable cost 26
Making Your Choice: Deciding What and How Much You Want 27
Exploring Violations and Limitations of the Economist's Choice Model 29
Understanding uninformed decision-making 29
Making sense of irrationality 30
Chapter 3: Producing Stuff to Maximize Happiness 33
Figuring Out What's Possible to Produce 34
Classifying resources 35
Clarifying human capital 35
Diminishing returns 36
Allocating resources 37
Graphing your production possibilities 38
Reaching new frontiers with better technology 41
Deciding What to Produce 42
Comparing market results and government interventions 43
Opting for a mixed economy 49
Promoting Technology and Innovation 52
Part 2: Microeconomics: The Science of Consumer and Firm Behavior 55
Chapter 4: Supply and Demand Made Easy 57
Deconstructing Demand 58
Prices and other stuff: Looking at what affects quantity demanded 59
Graphing the demand curve 60
Opportunity costs: Setting the slope of the demand curve 62
Elasticity: Looking at extreme demand cases 63
Sorting Out Supply 65
Graphing the supply curve 65
Using elasticity to understand extreme supply cases 69
Bringing Supply and Demand Together 70
Market equilibrium: Seeking a balance 71
Demonstrating the stability of the market equilibrium 72
Adjusting to new market equilibriums when supply or demand changes 74
Price Controls: Keeping Prices Away from Market Equilibrium 76
Setting upper limits with price ceilings 77
Propping up prices with price floors 79
Chapter 5: Introducing Homo Economicus, the Utility-Maximizing Consumer 83
Choosing by Ranking 84
Getting Less from More: Diminishing Marginal Utility 85
Choosing Among Many Options When Facing a Limited Budget 88
Trying to buy as much (marginal) utility as you can 88
Purchasing the best combination of two goods to maximize total utility 91
Aiming for equal marginal utility per dollar 93
Deriving Demand Curves from Diminishing Marginal Utility 95
Seeing how price changes affect quantities demanded 96
Graphing the price and quantity changes to form a demand curve 97
Chapter 6: The Core of Capitali...