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| Introduction | |
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| What's to Love about Economics? Virtues of the Economic Way of Thinking | |
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| Why Did the Cashier Let Biff Henderson Eat All the Free Mints? An Introduction to the Power of Incentives | |
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| Supply and Demand | |
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| The Coffee Market's Hot; Why Are Bean Prices Not? Insights into Supply and Demand | |
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| Why Was the Great Newspaper Heist So Easy? Diminishing Marginal Utility and the Price Elasticity of Demand | |
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| Markets and Decisions | |
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| How Can Economics Influence Your Choice of a Spouse? Supply, Demand, and Price Signals in the Marriage Market | |
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| Is Adam Smith Rolling over in His Grave? Perfect Competition, Efficiency, and the Father of Modern Economics | |
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| Production | |
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| Why Are There More Members of a Band Than Professors in a Class? Diminishing Marginal Returns and the Demand for Labor | |
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| Could the Future Cost of Energy Change Life as We Know It? Production Costs and the Inescapable Demand for Energy | |
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| Consumer Choice | |
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| Why Is Cash the Ultimate Gift? Optimal Consumption, Deadweight Loss, and the Virtues of Flexible Spending | |
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| Why Should We Pay for What We Throw Away? Incentives for Efficiency from Pay-Per-Unit Pricing | |
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| Efficiency | |
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| Why Not Split the Check? A Briefing on Market Failure | |
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| How Gullible Are We? Information Problems and Their Applications to Schools of Economic Thought | |
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| Market Power | |
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| What's Behind the Music Industry's Woes? The Sound of Market Power | |
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| Wal-Mart: Friend or Foe? Economies of Scale, Low Prices, Low Wages, and Thinking outside the Box | |
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| Risk, Uncertainty, and the Market | |
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| What Is the Value of Human Life? Reasons and Methods for Placing Finite Values on Unidentified Human Lives | |
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| Do Potential Criminals Contemplate Their Fates? Making Incentives Matter in the Face of Risk and Uncertainty | |
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| Public Policy | |
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| Should Damage Awards in Lawsuits Be Capped? Benefits and Costs of Limiting the Burden of Litigation | |
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| What's to Love about Taxes? Free Riding on Public Goods, Deadweight Loss, and the Lesser of Two Evils | |
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| Technology and Innovation | |
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| Will Technology Put Us All Out of Work? Unemployment, Creative Destruction, and Quality of Life | |
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| Do Pharmaceutical Patents Cost Lives or Save Them? Balancing Incentives for Innovation with Prices More Disease Victims Can Afford | |
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| The Macroeconomy | |
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| Why Do We Neglect Leisure and Cheer for Divorce? The Divergence of Gross Domestic Product and Measures of Well-Being | |
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| Does the Money Supply Matter? Money, the Fed, and the Debate over Optimal Monetary Policy | |
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| Growth and Employment | |
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| What's to Like about Outsourcing? The Influence of International Labor Markets | |
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| Do Tree Huggers Deter Growth and Employment? Myths, Labor Markets, and Environmentalism | |
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| Macroeconomic Policy | |
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| How Much Debt Is Too Much? Expenditure Smoothing, Ricardian Equivalence, Crowding Out, and Investments for the Future | |
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| What Is the Role of Government? Political-Economic Systems, Snags in Private Solutions, and Remedies with a Role for Government | |
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| International Economics | |
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| Is Globalization a Bad Word? Comparative Advantage, Culture Clashes, and Organizations Meant to Make the Most of Global Markets | |
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| Why Are Some Nations Rich and Others Poor? Growth Models, Miracles, and the Determinants of Economic Development | |
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| Global Issues | |
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| Pollution: How Might Economics Help Save the Planet? Cap-and-Trade Programs as a Market Solution to Problems Large and Small | |
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| Immigration: How Welcoming Should Lady Liberty Be? The Costs and Benefits of Relatively Open Borders | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Index | |