Economics for Busy People

Introduction

Is That Thing Alive?

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 We Act, Choose, And Change?

3. We Always Act For A Reason

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

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

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

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

Short Answer: We Turn Differences Into Opportunities

Part 6: 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

Short Answer: We Can’t Shortcut Time And Learning

Part 7: 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

Short Answer: We Know More Than Any Planner Can

Part 8: 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

Short Answer: We Get Unintended Consequences From Good Intentions

Part 9: 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

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

We’re Finished, But You Aren’t Done

Further Reading