[Dummies 01] • Economics For Dummies · 3rd Edtion, 3rd Edition by Flynn, Sean Masaki -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Table of Contents Introduction

About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here

Part 1: Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity

Chapter 1: What Economics Is and Why You Should Care

Considering a Little Economic History Framing Economics as the Science of Scarcity Sending Microeconomics and Macroeconomics to Separate Corners Understanding How Economists Use Models and Graphs

Chapter 2: Cookies or Ice Cream? Exploring Consumer Choices

Describing Human Behavior with a Choice Model Pursuing Personal Happiness You Can’t Have Everything: Examining Limitations Making Your Choice: Deciding What and How Much You Want Exploring Violations and Limitations of the Economist’s Choice Model

Chapter 3: Producing Stuff to Maximize Happiness

Figuring Out What’s Possible to Produce Deciding What to Produce Promoting Technology and Innovation

Part 2: Microeconomics: The Science of Consumer and Firm Behavior

Chapter 4: Supply and Demand Made Easy

Deconstructing Demand Sorting Out Supply Bringing Supply and Demand Together Price Controls: Keeping Prices Away from Market Equilibrium

Chapter 5: Introducing Homo Economicus, the Utility-Maximizing Consumer

Choosing by Ranking Getting Less from More: Diminishing Marginal Utility Choosing Among Many Options When Facing a Limited Budget Deriving Demand Curves from Diminishing Marginal Utility

Chapter 6: The Core of Capitalism: The Profit-Maximizing Firm

A Firm’s Goal: Maximizing Profits Facing Competition Analyzing a Firm’s Cost Structure Comparing Marginal Revenues with Marginal Costs Pulling the Plug: When Producing Nothing Is Your Best Bet

Chapter 7: Why Economists Love Free Markets and Competition

Ensuring That Benefits Exceed Costs: Competitive Free Markets When Free Markets Lose Their Freedom: Dealing with Deadweight Losses Hallmarks of Perfect Competition: Zero Profits and Lowest Possible Costs

Chapter 8: Monopolies: Bad Behavior without Competition

Examining Profit-Maximizing Monopolies Comparing Monopolies with Competitive Firms Considering Good Monopolies Regulating Monopolies

Chapter 9: Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Middle Grounds

Oligopolies: Looking at the Allure of Joining Forces Understanding Incentives to Cheat the Cartel Regulating Oligopolies Studying a Hybrid: Monopolistic Competition

Part 3: Applying the Theories of Microeconomics

Chapter 10: Property Rights and Wrongs

Allowing Markets to Reach Socially Optimal Outcomes Examining Externalities: The Costs and Benefits Others Feel from Your Actions Tragedy of the Commons: Overexploiting Commonly Owned Resources

Chapter 11: Asymmetric Information and Public Goods

Facing Up to Asymmetric Information Providing Public Goods

Chapter 12: Health Economics and Healthcare Finance

Defining Health Economics and Healthcare Finance Noting the Limits of Health Insurance Comparing Healthcare Internationally Inflated Demand: Suffering from “Free” and Reduced-Cost Healthcare Investigating Singapore’s Secrets

Chapter 13: Behavioral Economics: Investigating Irrationality

Explaining the Need for Behavioral Economics Complementing Neo-Classical Economics with Behavioral Economics Examining our Amazing, Efficient, and Error-Prone Brains Surveying Prospect Theory Countering Myopia and Time Inconsistency Gauging Fairness and Self-Interest

Part 4: Macroeconomics: The Science of Economic Growth and Stability

Chapter 14: How Economists Measure the Macroeconomy

Getting a Grip on the GDP (and Its Parts) Diving In to the GDP Equation Making Sense of International Trade and Its Effect on the Economy

Chapter 15: Inflation Frustration: Why More Money Isn’t Always Good

Buying an Inflation: When Too Much Money Is a Bad Thing Measuring Inflation Pricing the Future: Nominal and Real Interest Rates

Chapter 16: Understanding Why Recessions Happen

Introducing the Business Cycle Striving for Full-Employment Output Returning to Y*: The Natural Result of Price Adjustments Responding to Economic Shocks: Short-Run and Long-Run Effects Heading toward Recession: Getting Stuck with Sticky Prices Achieving Equilibrium with Sticky Prices: The Keynesian Model

Chapter 17: Fighting Recessions with Monetary and Fiscal Policy

Stimulating Demand to End Recessions Generating Inflation: The Risk of Too Much Stimulation Figuring Out Fiscal Policy Dissecting Monetary Policy

Chapter 18: Grasping Origins and Effects of Financial Crises

Understanding How Debt-Driven Bubbles Develop Seeing the Bubble Burst After the Crisis: Looking at Recovery

Part 5: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Seductive Economic Fallacies

The Lump of Labor The World Is Facing Overpopulation Sequence Indicates Causation Protectionism Is the Best Solution to Foreign Competition The Fallacy of Composition If It’s Worth Doing, Do It 100 Percent Free Markets Are Dangerously Unstable Low Foreign Wages Mean That Rich Countries Can’t Compete Tax Rates Don’t Affect Work Effort Forgetting Unintended Consequences

Chapter 20: Ten Economic Ideas to Hold Dear

Self-Interest Can Improve Society Free Markets Require Regulation Economic Growth Relies on Innovation Freedom and Democracy Make Us Richer Education Raises Living Standards Intellectual Property Boosts Innovation Weak Property Rights Cause All Environmental Problems International Trade Is a Good Thing Government Can Provide Public Goods Preventing Inflation Is Easy

Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Famous Economists

Adam Smith David Ricardo Karl Marx Alfred Marshall John Maynard Keynes Kenneth Arrow and Gerard Debreu Milton Friedman Paul Samuelson Robert Solow Gary Becker Robert Lucas

Appendix: Glossary About the Author Advertisement Page Connect with Dummies Index End User License Agreement

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