... 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 and
public policy.
The starting point of utilitarianism is the notion of ... veil of ignorance would be
to maximize the average utility of members of society, and the resulting notion of
justice would be more utilitarian than Rawlsian.
LIBERTARIANISM
A third view of inequality...
... effect on
labor supply of winning such a large prize is substantial.
Similar results were found in a study, published in the May 1993 issue of the
Quarterly Journal of Economics, of how receiving a ... cutting back on the luxury of meat
and buying more of the staple food of potatoes. Thus, it is argued that a higher
price of potatoes actually raised the quantity of potatoes demanded.
Whether ... of consumer choice does allow demand curves to slope
upward. Yet such occurrences are so unusual that the law of demand is as reliable
a law as any in economics.
Quantity
of Meat
A
Quantity of
Potatoes
0
E
C
I
2
I
1
Initial...
... the health of our children, the
quality 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 public
debate ... Americans.
506 PART EIGHT THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
CASE STUDY
INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN GDP AND THE
QUALITY OF LIFE
One way to gauge the usefulness of GDP as a measure of economic well-being
is 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 the
market value of the paper to the market value of the...
... Bureau of Labor Statistics did revise the basket of goods
B
EHIND EVERY MACROECONOMIC STATISTIC
are 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 THE
COST OF LIVING
508 PART EIGHT THE DATA OF MACROECONOMICS
maternal mortality, higher rates of child malnutrition, and ... and
pro-reform director of the Institute of
Economic Problems of the Transitional
Period.
“Seven years ago to report an
increase in the amount of production
was to become a Hero of Socialist
Labor,”...
... ideas. In the rest of this chapter, we look at TenPrinciplesof Economics.
These principles recur throughout this book and are introduced here to give you
an overview of what economics is all ... incremental adjustments to a
plan of action
CHAPTER 1 TENPRINCIPLESOFECONOMICS 7
thinking at the margin. Imagine that a plane is about to take off with ten empty
seats, and a standby passenger ... individuals who
make up the economy, we start our study ofeconomics with four principlesof in-
dividual decisionmaking.
PRINCIPLE #1: PEOPLE FACE TRADEOFFS
The first lesson about making decisions is...
... CHAPTER 1 TENPRINCIPLESOFECONOMICS 15
monetary and fiscal policy are potentially so powerful, how policymakers should
use these instruments to control the economy, if at all, is a subject of continuing
debate.
QUICK ... task. The
field 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 ... introduction of competing products has
reduced the expected sales of your new product to
$3 million. If it would cost $1 million to finish
Problems and Applications
CHAPTER 1 TENPRINCIPLESOF ECONOMICS...
... source of the inefficiency were eliminated, the economy
could 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 from
point 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 ADVISER
Often 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 their
income on cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. In 2001
they buy 100 heads of cauliflower for $200, 50 bunches
of ... that nominal and
real interest rates often do not
move together.
S
OURCE
: U.S. Department of Labor;
U.S. Department of Treasury.
CHAPTER 23 MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING 519
THE GDP DEFLATOR VERSUS ... overall level of prices. The consumer price index compares the
price of a fixed basket of goods and services to the price of the basket in the base
year. Only occasionally does the Bureau of Labor...
... capital.
One of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics presented in Chapter 1 is that people face
tradeoffs. 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 to
produce 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...
... through
policies that promote economic growth. Most of this chapter is summarized in one
of the TenPrinciplesof Economics: A country’s standard of living depends on its
ability to produce goods ... extra unit of an input
declines as the quantity of the
input increases
catch-up effect
the property whereby countries
that start off poor tend to grow
more rapidly than countries
that start off rich
... techniques.
The final way in which a country can influence population growth is to apply
one of the TenPrinciplesof Economics: People respond to incentives. Bearing a child,
like any decision, has an...
... the various mixes of output
that an economy can produce. It illustrates one of the TenPrinciplesofEconomics in
Chapter 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 point
for 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. The
Violent
Crimes
(per 1,000
people)
Police Officers
(per 1,000 people)
0
Figure...
... opportunity
cost 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 1
pound of potatoes costs the farmer 1/2 pound of meat, 1 pound of ... The rancher buys 1
pound of potatoes for a price of 3 pounds of meat. This price of potatoes is lower
than her opportunity cost of 1 pound of potatoes, which is 8 pounds of meat. Thus,
the rancher...
... sum of all the
individual demands for a particular good or service.
Catherine’s Demand
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Nicholas’s Demand
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Quantity of
Ice-Cream ...
competitive?
DEMAND
We 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 ... arrange
sales.
More often, markets are less organized. For example, consider the market for
ice cream in a particular town. Buyers of ice cream do not meet together at any one
time. The sellers of ice cream...