Analysis of Bill Mckibben's 'Deep Economy'

In the book Freakonomics, written by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubne, the authors go through different parts of modern life to show how economics describes why people act a certain way as well as the way specific outcomes occur. They look into different aspects of society and view them with different perspectives. With the use of specific data and the fundamentals of economics, the very obscure comparisons and the different chapters in the book show correlation between economics and human nature. The main point of this book is to explain a few fundamental ideas through the answers of strange questions and how they play a major role in society.

The interconnected world in which we live today is absolutely amazing. It is possible to drink a cup of coffee grown in Uganda with a chocolate bar sourced from Brazilian cacao beans while ordering a sweater made in Bangladesh. This entanglement with the rest of the world is not without its shadows, however. The items that we so easily buy and throw out exploit laborers and resources from the farthest corners of the world. Even deeds that we feel are good for the disadvantaged people in the US and abroad, such as donating to Goodwill or providing monetary aid to Africa, have their own drawbacks as well. Living as a Christian in this globalized world presents challenges to Biblical values and requires thinking deeply about how our decisions affect ourselves and others.

After reading Chapter 3 of “High Price” by Dr. Carl Hart, I learned he lived with his mother and father until the as halfway thru the second grade. Then got a divorce and he stayed with his father for about two week, but once his father realized that he was unable to take care, he then went to live with his Big Mama. His great grandmother was a Bahamian woman. She came to the United States when she was a young adult. His big mama was a women who believed and stressed that going school and being self sufficient was important. She believed that a black men in this society had no chance if they weren’t educated. Dr. Carl Hart’s family based their family morals off of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois, based on the beliefs of the his grandmother and great grandmother. His great grandmother followed role of W. E. B. DuBois, because she believed that education was important and this was a way for African Americans can advance. Although his great grandmother believed that education was important, she did not believe that it would not help someone of his race in a world where racism played a big part of being successful. Carl’s father would promise to pick him up on the weekends and would never show or even showed up drunk. Although his father was an alcoholic, Carl didn’t mind it he just wanted to be around him. Being the his great grandmother loved him dearly, his great grandmother loved him and always had his back. When Carl’s father didn’t play a the role of being a

Charles states as his number one point that economics is really unpredictable. He uses the Coca-Cola Company as a fine example for this. That company starts of turning out to be loss and failure but within 10 years since it started it turned out to be very profitable. Charles also states that markets are extreme powerhouses over individual’s daily lives. Markets are also self-correcting because they use prices to allocate their resources. Individuals all work for their own self-interest so they can be better off in the society. One very good example the author provides is the Soviet’s socialist economy and how it failed because the bureaucracy controlled the economy, or basically he’s saying that

Todd G. Buchholz defines economics as the study of choice. Economists examine the consequences of the choices people make. The creation and evolution of economics over centuries came from the ideas of four economists: Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall and John Maynard Keynes. These well respected economists help the theory of economics grow and become what it is today.

They explained that: “Changes in incentives influence human behavior in predictable ways”. The main point of this concept is that the more attractive an option is the more likely an individual to choose it. Another point that they also focused on was the fact that if a particular product more costly, the more unappealing it will become to the consumer. They used examples such as employees will worker harder if they feel that they will be greatly rewarded or a student will study material that they feel will be on an

Success is positive in which it comes with a great deal of recognition and pride, but negative in which “ Ultimately, if the researcher succeeds, a flood of colleagues will pave the roads over the path laid, and those roads will be orderly and straight, taking an investigator in minutes to a place the pioneer spent months or years looking for.” and, “the perfect tool will be available for purchase just as laboratory mice can now be ordered from supply houses.” Barry says, “ flood of colleagues” and “pave the roads over the path laid”, which is very a powerful metaphor that depicts after all of the hard work and courage scientist have to go through their peers will begin to use this experiment with no account for the scientist who created

Tissue engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that uses principles from engineering, biology and chemistry in an effort towards tissue regeneration. The main draw of tissue engineering is the regeneration of a patient’s own tissues and organs free from low biofunctionality and poor biocompatibility and serious immune rejection. As medical care continues to improve and life expectancy continues to grow, organ shortages become more problematic.(Manufacturing living things) According to organdonor.gov, a patient is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 18 people die everyday waiting for an organ donation. The “nirvana” of tissue engineering is to replace the need for organ donation altogether. This could be achieved using scaffolding from

The main point of chapter two is to explain why economies do not have a fixed number of jobs regardless of manpower. This is a common misconception whereas an increase in the manpower of an economy will increase the unemployment rate. However, due to large numbers of migrations that have occurred recently, real world experiments can be observed to understand the impacts. What has been learned from these events is that a reactive economy can handle fluctuations in the size of the workforce satisfactorily. The Mariel boatlift is a good real world example of a large migration from Cuba to Miami had little impact on employment and wages in Miami. The economic explanation for this illogical occurrence is due the ability the Miami economy was

As Milton Friedman once said, “Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us and history confirms that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power. Government is necessary to preserve our freedom, it is an instrument through which we can exercise our freedom; yet by concentrating power and political hands, it is also a threat to freedom.” Friedman’s “Capitalism and Freedom” takes us into the mind of an economic genius and shows us his beliefs in a free market and the threat it presents to a dictatorship. Friedman, clearly a supporter of the free market, gives examples to show how a free market can aid a society in striving for success, becoming more dominant, and becoming more powerful. Though, at times he does show how a free market has disadvantages and he makes us aware as to how it can aid people in gaining individualism, knowledge, and overall improving a society. A free market is one that the price of a good or service is determined by supply and demand, in theory, rather than by government regulation. Milton’s thoughts and theory is that through a robust free market with political freedom, economic freedom will follow. Showing how economic freedom is a crucial toward the success of political freedom, Friedman’s theory of a free market and the Do Nothing Principle are major themes throughout his book.

Personally, economics has never been my calling, the arts and crafts would be more fitting. After persuasion from my parents and siblings, I decided I would give it a shot. To my surprise, Naked Economics (2002), by Charles Wheelan, was an extremely interesting read which completely changed my understanding of what economics is. Wheelan made it easy for me to learn and stay entertained. At times, I even caught myself giggling. His book taught me that economics isn't about money and stocks, but much more.

As a recent graduate from Old Dominion University with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Physics, I possess the academic background necessary to qualify me continue my education. Though a majority of my courses during undergrad focused on power systems and electromagnetics, I also completed multiple courses in bioelectrics in addition to my required engineering and math classes. These courses served as a strong introduction into the interdisciplinary relationship between engineering and the medical field and thus peaked my initial interest in biomedical engineering. My specific interests include nanomedicine, neuroengineering and brain-computer

LeRoy Karas seemed to be a young man who had a future in sports stemming from his athletic abilities and physical build which lead to a scholarship in football. His outgoing personality and good looks made him popular with the ladies and on the party scene. He was also favored by his parents over his year younger brother Elroy. After entering college on a scholarship, LeRoy spent more time parting than studying and he became more dependent on alcohol and lost his scholarship. Soon after he dropped out of college he met his first wife, she became pregnant, they married and after 2

From an early age, I have been fascinated by how things work. It seems, listening to family, that I was never satisfied with a simple answer that machine runs on power; but always wanted to know more. As I completed my undergraduate education in ________, I became more and more interested in pursuing an advanced degree in Biomedical Engineering. My well-rounded educational pursuits thus far have served me well, engineering complimented by a sound background in the humanities and hard sciences. I have, though, a robust passion to learn more, to hone my skills even more in a field that has simply exploded over the past decade biomedical engineering.

It is a pristine tradition that much matters to a nation, when it comes to issues irrelevant to human development. Speaking in terms of reality, the economic boom of a nation is what human development all about.