Economics for Busy People
Introduction
Part 1: Why Do We Need Economics?
1.We Are The Subjects Of Economics
2.We Aren’t Rocks (Or Chemicals, Or Atoms)
Part 2: Why Do People Act, Choose, And Change?
4.We Don’t Like The Same Things, And That’s Good
5.We Can’t Have Everything, So We Have To Choose
6.We Act Purposefully, Not Perfectly
7.Short Answer: We Want To Improve Our Lives
Part 3: How Do We Make Decisions In The Real World?
8.We Ask “Does It Work?” Before “Can We Do It Better?”
9.We Rank What Matters Most
10.We Get Nothing For Free
11.We Decide One Step At A Time
12.Short Answer: We Must Choose Based On What We Know
Part 4: How Do Millions Of Strangers Cooperate?
13.We Let Each Other Know What We Want
14.We (Try To) Make What Other People Want
15.We Don’t Set Prices, We Discover Them
16.We Pay For Value Not Effort
17.Short Answer: We Send Signals With Our Purchases
Part 5: What Makes Cooperation So Valuable?
18.We Discover Through Trade
19.We Can Do Anything, But We Can’t Do Everything
20.We Are Best Off When We All Play To Our Strengths
21.We Make Order Without Orders
22.We Trade Because We See Value Differently
23.We Use Money Because We Both Want It
24.Short Answer: We Turn Differences Into Opportunities
Part 4: Why Can’t We Just Get Rich Quick?
25.We Grow By Producing, Not Just Consuming
26.We Produce Now To Consume Later
27.We Must Invest In The Right Tools For The Job
28.We Have To Pay For Time
29.We Are Uncertain If We Will Profit
30.We Change The World By Trying New Things
31.We Grow When Builders Aren’t Blocked
32.Short Answer: We Can’t Shortcut Time And Learning
Part 5: Why Can’t We Make The Economy Do What We Want?
33.We Can’t Outsmart The System
34.We Don’t Have A Crystal Ball
35.We Each Know Different Things (And No One Knows Everything)
36.We Can’t Calculate Without Prices
37.We Need Good Rules, Not Good Rulers
38.Short Answer: We Know More Than Any Planner Can
Part 6: How Can Politics Shape (Or Mis-shape) The Economy?
39.We Benefit From Voluntary Exchange, Not Involuntary Exchange
40.We Must Focus On Results Not Good Intentions
41.We Shouldn’t Create Fake Barriers
42.We Need Honest Money, Not Controlled Money
43.We Can Crash When Money Gets Cheap For The Wrong Reasons
44.We Often Protect Producers At The Expense Of Consumers
45.We Benefit When We Trade Across Borders
46.Short Answer: We Get Unintended Consequences From Good Intentions
Part 7: Can Markets Be Moral?
47.We Need Ethics And Economics To Build A Better World
48.We Cooperate Because We Choose To
49.We Cannot Eliminate All Inequality, But We Can Stop Picking Favorites
50.Short Answer: We Make Markets Moral Through Our Choices
What’s The One Lesson To Take With You?
51.We Get Better by Thinking Beyond Today