... amount of income—$100,000 in our example—were fixed. But, in fact, it is not. Utilitarians reject com-plete equalization of incomes because they accept one of the TenPrinciples of Economics ... extent, the goal of utilitarians is to ap-ply the logic of individual decisionmaking to questions concerning morality andpublic policy.The starting point of utilitarianism is the notion of ... veil of ignorance would beto maximize the average utility of members of society, and the resulting notion of justice would be more utilitarian than Rawlsian.LIBERTARIANISMA third view of inequality...
... effect onlabor supply of winning such a large prize is substantial.Similar results were found in a study, published in the May 1993 issue of theQuarterly Journal of Economics, of how receiving a ... cutting back on the luxury of meatand buying more of the staple food of potatoes. Thus, it is argued that a higherprice of potatoes actually raised the quantity of potatoes demanded.Whether ... of consumer choice does allow demand curves to slopeupward. Yet such occurrences are so unusual that the law of demand is as reliablea law as any in economics. Quantity of MeatAQuantity of Potatoes0ECI2I1Initial...
... the health of our children, thequality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our publicdebate ... Americans. 506 PART EIGHT THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICSCASE STUDYINTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN GDP AND THEQUALITY OF LIFEOne way to gauge the usefulness of GDP as a measure of economic well-beingis to ... value of final goods. The reason is that the value of intermediate goods is already included in the prices of the final goods. Adding themarket value of the paper to the market value of the...
... Bureau of Labor Statistics did revise the basket of goodsBEHIND EVERY MACROECONOMIC STATISTICare thousands of individual pieces of data on the economy. This article fol-lows some of the people ... a higher or lower standard of liv-ing than today’s players.MEASURING THECOST OF LIVING 508 PART EIGHT THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICSmaternal mortality, higher rates of child malnutrition, and ... andpro-reform director of the Institute of Economic Problems of the TransitionalPeriod.“Seven years ago to report anincrease in the amount of productionwas to become a Hero of SocialistLabor,”...
... ideas. In the rest of this chapter, we look at TenPrinciplesof Economics. These principles recur throughout this book and are introduced here to give youan overview of what economics is all ... incremental adjustments to aplan of action CHAPTER 1 TENPRINCIPLESOFECONOMICS 7thinking at the margin. Imagine that a plane is about to take off with ten emptyseats, and a standby passenger ... individuals whomake up the economy, we start our study ofeconomics with four principlesof in-dividual decisionmaking.PRINCIPLE #1: PEOPLE FACE TRADEOFFSThe first lesson about making decisions is...
... CHAPTER 1 TENPRINCIPLESOFECONOMICS 15monetary and fiscal policy are potentially so powerful, how policymakers shoulduse these instruments to control the economy, if at all, is a subject of continuingdebate.QUICK ... task. Thefield ofeconomics is based on a few basic ideas that can be applied in many dif-ferent situations.Throughout this book we will refer back to the TenPrinciplesof Economics highlighted ... three examplesof important tradeoffs that you facein your life.2. What is the opportunity cost of seeing a movie?3. Water is necessary for life. Is the marginal benefit of aglass of water...
... source of the inefficiency were eliminated, the economycould move from point B to point A, increasing production of both cars (to 700)and computers (to 2,000).One of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics ... less of the other. When the economy moves frompoint A to point C, for instance, society produces more computers but at the ex-pense of producing fewer cars.Another of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics ... infeasible point. Show the effects of a drought. ◆ Define microeconomics and macroeconomics.THE ECONOMIST AS POLICY ADVISEROften economists are asked to explain the causes of economic events. Why, for...
... well-being of others?Explain.2. Suppose that the residents of Vegopia spend all of theirincome on cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. In 2001they buy 100 heads of cauliflower for $200, 50 bunches of ... that nominal andreal interest rates often do notmove together.SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor;U.S. Department of Treasury. CHAPTER 23 MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING 519THE GDP DEFLATOR VERSUS ... overall level of prices. The consumer price index compares theprice of a fixed basket of goods and services to the price of the basket in the baseyear. Only occasionally does the Bureau of Labor...
... capital.One of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics presented in Chapter 1 is that people facetradeoffs. This principle is especially important when considering the accumula-tion of capital. Because ... experienced more rapidly growing productivity.Indeed, one of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics in Chapter 1 is that a country’s stan-dard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services.Hence, ... of capital and be able toproduce more of all types of goods and services. Thus, one way to raise future pro-ductivity is to invest more current resources in the production of capital.One of...
... throughpolicies that promote economic growth. Most of this chapter is summarized in one of the TenPrinciplesof Economics: A country’s standard of living depends on itsability to produce goods ... extra unit of an inputdeclines as the quantity of theinput increasescatch-up effectthe property whereby countriesthat start off poor tend to growmore rapidly than countriesthat start off rich ... techniques.The final way in which a country can influence population growth is to applyone of the TenPrinciplesof Economics: People respond to incentives. Bearing a child,like any decision, has an...
... the various mixes of outputthat an economy can produce. It illustrates one of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics inChapter 1: People face tradeoffs. Here the farmer faces a tradeoff between produc-ing ... ac-tivities of millions of people with varying tastes and abilities. As a starting pointfor this analysis, here we consider the reasons for economic interdependence. One of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics ... easier to see in the case of babies and mini-vans. Couples often buy a minivan in anticipation of the birth of a child. TheViolentCrimes (per 1,000people)Police Officers(per 1,000 people)0Figure...
... opportunitycost of producing 1 pound of meat is 2 pounds of potatoes. Explain why the rancher’s opportunity cost of producing 1 pound of meat is 1/8 pound of potatoes.2. Maria can read 20 pages ofeconomics ... pound of potatoes costs the rancher 8 pounds of meat,1 pound of meat costs the rancher 1/8 pound of potatoes. Similarly, because 1pound of potatoes costs the farmer 1/2 pound of meat, 1 pound of ... The rancher buys 1pound of potatoes for a price of 3 pounds of meat. This price of potatoes is lowerthan her opportunity cost of 1 pound of potatoes, which is 8 pounds of meat. Thus,the rancher...
... sum of all theindividual demands for a particular good or service.Catherine’s DemandPrice of Ice-CreamConePrice of Ice-CreamConeNicholas’s Demand0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Quantity of Ice-Cream ... competitive?DEMANDWe begin our study of markets by examining the behavior of buyers. Here we con-sider what determines the quantity demanded of any good, which is the amount of the good that buyers are ... arrangesales.More often, markets are less organized. For example, consider the market forice cream in a particular town. Buyers of ice cream do not meet together at any onetime. The sellers of ice cream...