Microecon

The principal microeconomic issue at work is supply and demand. The author invokes a number of economic theorists (both liberal and conservative) who endorse price gouging out of a belief that it is simply the natural manifestation of a capitalist society that relies on supply and demand. There is a belief that preventing price gouging allows consumers to act with little consequence for their actions. According to this line of thinking, a business is well within its rights to raise prices because they should respond to public demand; at other times, there is little demand, so they are wise to take advantage when there is significant demand. Moreover, economic theorists have argued that price-gouging is positive because it makes people question whether the item they are considering purchasing

Many of the concepts that were discussed in Chapter 1 such as opportunity cost as well as some (much) newer ideas such as marginal and total utility. There are many examples of this such as when discussing the affects of Hospitality hours (happy hour) on the amount of drinks and the rate at which people consume their drinks (lower prices and quantity demanded) or the price at which people are willing to buy a cookbook relative to the profit the writer makes and how the current price was beneficial to both parties (equilibrium price). Ultimately I quite enjoyed the story and regret not getting it earlier as having it would of given context to a lot of concepts that normally seem alien to the average person that does not have business ties. This is of course in addition to the amusing and witty story thus making the 0.01 cents plus 3.99 shipping and handling a real steal for

The movie “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner was a great way to bring light into the science of economics. The authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner would give two subjects that are unrelated to each other to give viewers an understanding of Freakonomics. This was a great idea because I would have never thought that a teacher and a sumo wrestler would have anything in common. Additionally, in the beginning of the movie the authors mention three types of incentives, which are moral, social, and economics and how individuals learn to acknowledge them (Freakonomics, N/A). In this case, Levitt’s knowledge allows him to find cause and effect in data, “I like to explain how people get what they want,” he says. This

Before reading “The Reason College Costs More than You Think” by Jon Marcus, I paid attention on the title of his topic. It was sound very interesting because it was related to me.

It was not all just the hard facts about economics with various graphs and statistics, but actually engaged the reader. Each chapter would have what would seem like ridiculous examples of economics, such as “Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms”, or “How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?”, but within their explanations, the reader could come to their own conclusions. The Distinguished Gentleman had an interesting character development, where the con-man within the group of conning Congressmen suddenly becomes one of the better people, one with integrity and actually wants to see things get

By reading your book I like to think that I now have a better outlook on our current economic situation and also the events that have lead up to where we are today. With that said one chapter I really liked and focused on in your book was actually Chapter 2 The Buildup: 1999 to 2007. This chapter focused heavily on the some economic policies that helped fling the United States into the Great Recession. I have always believed that in order to better the future you must reflect upon the past and notice what you did wrong. This chapter provides four policies that nose-dived our economy to where it is today. While many people, and I also, believe that lower interest rates are a good thing, but when they actually just manipulate people into believing that once they can afford things that they really cannot obtain such as houses, vehicles, and recreational items. This with the combination of lowering the credit standards caused the household debt levels to skyrocket all across America. Secondly, even though we have talked about Social Security in class before I am still astonished by how much it

The final chapter that I am going to analyse is ‘why so many prices end with 9’ this chapter is clear cut and extremely interesting I found. The psychology behind the marketing choice is fascinating and he uses economics in a daily surrounding which intrigues me more and I’m sure many others that read the book. McKenzie had a very balanced and unbiased view in this chapter, although he does occasionally assume that the average person is very simple and not intelligent in the least. He also missed out some information that I though could be relevant such as what the people do

Chapter Three of The Impossible Will Take a Little While by Paul Loeb is titled “Standing Up for Children” and was written by Marian Wright Edelman. Edelman states that God’s plans can be seen in the birth of babies because if a baby is born, it means that God is still working on humanity. She says that babies are born when God wants something to be changed. The article is discussing how adults are supposed to protect children and make society a place where all children can succeed, not just upper-class children who have access to more resources. Protecting children is important because they become the leaders of the world and they start social movements.

Naked Economics is in fact a much more interesting read than I first anticipated. I feel that the author did rather well at truly “Undressing the Dismal Science” (Wheelan & Malkiel 2012) in such a way that it became intriguing to the reader, something I feel was likely a challenge being that so many textbooks tend to be difficult reads. Though, I suppose textbooks are not meant to be entertaining. Regardless I enjoyed the style of the book and will certainly look into reading it again in the future. Now that I have read the entire book I do feel that I have a much better understanding of the importance of economics in our society, even if I don’t understand the math, and effort that goes into understanding it. I still feel that I am better

Part I discusses intended and unintended consequences and that incentives matter. An example used is Bart (Homer’s son) and Milhouse (Bart’s friend) break the window of the Kwik-E-Mart. As a result, Apu (Kwik-E-Mart owner) can no longer purchase the Squishee machine he had wanted to buy. Instead he has to purchase a new window, which economically benefits someone, but it’s not Apu. In the next chapter, he ties in incentives by using the episode “King-Size

The authors of the textbook start off the semester with reflection one, asking the students “what do you expect will change for you

One of the most imperative points I learned was the need to understand and address the economic systems that perpetuates economic barriers. The intricate ideologies

(2013). Why Economists Love Price Gouging, And Why It's So Rare. Retrieved 19 November 2015, from

The economic discourse community can be loosely identified as a set of shared values and knowledge in the field of economics. Different from other writings, economic discourse community usually include some technical economic terms and visual information, i.e. diagrams, tables and charts, etc. Each writing piece has its intended audience, and economists’ writing is no exception. Economists’ writing is usually targeted at economic majors or practitioners in the field of economics. Economic discourse community helps its intended readers to pick up information efficiently and effectively.

Some of the most compelling topics that I learned in this topic only came into focus at the end of the course. Economics is a very large and complex study and reflecting on this subject, piece by piece, requires some patience and ability to put the pieces together. The relationships between simple choices, such as supply and demand, drives all economic and commercial exchange but only through the lens of economic models that attempt to layout this system by combing mathematical principles and psycho-social evaluation. All in all, this was very interesting introduction to some of the complex drivers that propel society.