Let the trading begin: 400 BCE-1770 CE -- The age of reason: 1770-1820 -- Industrial and economic revolutions: 1820-1929 -- War and depressions: 1929-1945 -- Post-war economics: 1945-70 -- Contemporary economics: 1970-present.
Let the trading begin: 400 BCE-1770 CE : Property should be private: property rights -- What is a just price?: Markets and morality -- You don't need to barter when you have coins: the function of money -- Make money from money: financial services -- Money causes inflation: the quantity theory of money -- Protect us from foreign goods: protectionism and trade -- The economy can be counted: measuring wealth -- Let firms be traded: public companies -- Wealth comes from the land: agriculture in the economy -- Money and goods flow between producers and consumers: the circular flow of the economy -- Private individuals never pay for street lights: provision of public goods and services -- The age of reason: 1770-1820 : Man is a cold, rational calculator: economic man -- The invisible hand of the market brings order: free market economics -- The last worker adds less to output than the first: diminishing returns -- Why do diamonds cost more than water?: The paradox of value -- Make taxes fair and efficient: the tax burden -- Divide up pin production, and you get more pins: the division of labor -- Population growth keeps us poor: demographics and economics -- Meetings of merchants end in conspiracies to raise prices: cartels and collusion -- Supply creates its own demand: gluts in markets -- Borrow now, tax later: borrowing and debt -- The economy is a yo-yo: boom and bust -- Trade is beneficial for all: comparative advantage -- Industrial and economic revolutions: 1820-1929 : How much should I produce, given the competition?: Effects of limited competition -- Phone calls cost more without competition: monopolies -- Crowds breed collective insanity: economic bubbles -- Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution: Marxist economics -- The value of a product comes from the effort needed to make it: the labor theory of value -- Prices come from supply and demand: supply and demand -- You enjoy the last chocolate less than the first: utility and satisfaction -- When the price goes up, some people buy more: spending paradoxes -- A system of free markets is stable: economic equilibrium -- If you get a pay raise, buy caviar not bread: elasticity of demand -- Companies are price takers not price makers: the competitive market -- Make one person better off without hurting the others: efficiency and fairness -- The bigger the factory, the lower the cost: economies of scale -- The cost of going to the movies is the fun you'd have had at an ice rink: opportunity cost -- Workers must improve their lot together: collective bargaining -- People consume to be noticed: conspicuous consumption -- Make the polluter pay: external costs -- Protestantism has made us rich: religion and the economy -- The poor are unlucky, not bad: the poverty problem -- Socialism is the abolition of rational economy: central planning -- Capitalism destroys the old and creates the new: creative destruction.
War and depressions: 1929-1945 : Unemployment is not a choice: depressions and unemployment -- Some people love risk, others avoid it: risk and uncertainty -- Government spending boosts the economy by more than what is spent: the Keynesian multiplier -- Economies are embedded in culture: economics and tradition -- Managers go for perks, not their company's profits: corporate governance -- The economy is a predictable machine: testing economic theories -- Economics is the science of scarce resources: definitions of economics -- We wish to preserve a free society: economic liberalism -- Industrialization creates sustained growth: the emergence of modern economies -- Different prices to different people: price discrimination -- Post-war economics: 1945-1970 : In the wake of war: and depression, nations must cooperate: international trade and Bretton Woods -- All poor countries need is a big push: development economics -- People are influenced by irrelevant alternatives: irrational decision making -- Governments should do nothing but control the money supply: monetarist policy -- The more people at work, the higher their bills: inflation and unemployment -- People smooth consumption over their life spans: saving to spend -- Institutions matter: institutions in economics -- People will avoid work if they can: market information and incentives -- Theories about market efficiency require many assumptions: markets and social outcomes -- There is no perfect voting system: social choice theory -- The aim is to maximize happiness, not income: the economics of happiness -- Policies to correct markets can make things worse: the theory of the second best -- Make markets fair: the social market economy -- Over time, all countries will be rich: economic growth theories -- Globalization is not inevitable: market integration -- Socialism leads to empty shops: shortages in planned economies -- What does the other man think I am going to do?: game theory -- Rich countries impoverish the poor: dependency theory -- You can't fool the people: rational expectations -- People don't care about probability when they choose: paradoxes in decision making -- Similar economies can benefit from a single currency: exchange rates and currencies -- Famine can happen in good harvests: entitlement theory -- Contemporary economics: 1970-Present : It is possible to invest without risk: financial engineering -- People are not 100 percent rational: behavioral economics -- Tax cuts can increase the tax take: taxation and economic incentives -- Prices tell you everything: efficient markets -- Over time, even the selfish cooperate with others: competition and cooperation -- Most cars traded will be lemons: market uncertainty -- The government's promises are incredible: independent central banks -- The economy is chaotic even when individuals are not: complexity and chaos -- Social networks are a kind of capital: social capital -- Education is only a signal of ability: signaling and screening -- The East Asian state governs the market: Asian Tiger economies -- Beliefs can trigger currency crises: speculation and currency devaluation -- Auction winners pay over the odds: the winner's curse -- Stable economies contain the seeds of instability: financial crises -- Businesses pay more than the market wage: incentives and wages -- Real wages rise during a recession: sticky wages -- Finding a job is like finding a partner or a house: searching and matching -- The biggest challenge for collective action is climate change: economics and the environment -- GDP ignores women: gender and economics -- Comparative advantage is an accident: trade and geography -- Like steam, computers have revolutionized economies: technological leaps -- We can kick-start poor economies by writing off debt: international debt relief -- Pessimism can destroy healthy banks: bank runs -- Savings gluts abroad fuel speculation at home: global savings imbalances -- More equal societies grow faster: inequality and growth -- Even beneficial economic reforms can fail: resisting economic change -- The housing market mirrors boom and bust: housing and the economic cycle.
|
