Economic Principles and Problems

PART I Economics: a pluralist definition 1 What is economics? The answer depends on who you ask; 2 Scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost: the mainstream PPC model, its limits, and the importance of institutions; PART II The evolution of economic ideas and systems 3 The evolution of pre-capitalist economic systems: from communal societies to empires, feudalism, and mercantilism; 4 Adam Smith and the rise of capitalism: the era of laissez-faire; 5 Karl Marx and the dark ages of capitalism: historical materialism, surplus value, and the exploitation of labor; 6 Thorstein Veblen and monopoly capitalism: the rise of manufacturing and the fall of laissez-faire; 7 Keynes and mixed market capitalism: how to save capitalism from itself; 8 Modern economic systems: market-dominated, social market, and state-dominated economies; PART III Markets, supply, and demand 9 Markets and how they work: the institutional foundations of markets, and the supply and demand model; 10 Applications of supply and demand: wages, advertising, price floors and ceilings, excise taxes and subsidies, consumer and producer surplus, and elasticity; 11 Consumer and supplier behavior: the complexities of market analysis; PART IV Market structures and corporations 12 Different types of market structures: how market outcomes differ by market structure; 13 Theories of firm behavior: short-run and long-run costs of production; 14 Perfect competition and competitive markets: the perfect, Smithian market structure; 15 Monopoly and monopoly power: natural and non-natural monopolies and how the government regulates them; 16 Monopolistic competition: the market for local services and easy-to-enter industries with unique products; 17 Oligopoly and strategic behavior: large firm competition and an introduction to game theory; 18 Corporations and their role in society: the good and bad side of limited liability corporations; PART V Government intervention in microeconomic markets 19 Market failure and government failure: the role for government in microeconomic markets; 20 The economics of the environment and climate change: a key issue of our time; 21 Public goods and services: do we have the right balance of public and private goods and services?; PART VI Labor markets and inequality 22 Working for a living: the labor market and forces that affect your working life; 23 Inequality, a key modern issue: class, race, gender, and distribution; PART VII Macroeconomic issues and problems 24 Modern macroeconomics: the evolution of macroeconomic theory and the macroeconomy in the modern era; 25 Macroeconomic well-being: measuring and setting goals for the macroeconomy; 26 Unemployment and price instability: the major macroeconomic market failures; PART VIII Macroeconomic models 27 Aggregate demand and aggregate supply: a mainstream economics model of the macroeconomy; 28 The Keynesian aggregate expenditure model: the foundation of modern macroeconomics; PART IX Stabilization policy 29 Fiscal policy, debt, and deficits: the macroeconomic role of government: fiscal activism vs. austerity; 30 Money, banking, and the financial sector: how money markets make the world go around; 31 Monetary policy: central banks, stabilization policy, and regulating financial markets; 32 Crises, financial and otherwise: the causes and consequences of economic crises and how they can be averted; PART X Growth and global interconnectedness 33 Economic growth: the forces that stimulate economic development; 34 International trade and integration: how unregulated trade, protectionism, and trade agreements affect economies; 35 International finance and open economy macro-economics: exchange rates, financial flows, and the balance of payments