Redlands Micro 4/6/11

You are invited to be a part of President Obama's re-election campaign team. Your job is to advise him on economic issues. What three key ideas will you suggest in order to help him get re-elected?

Redlands Micro Question 3/24/11

Markets clearly do not operate efficiently 100% of the time. Skim the recent headlines of your favorite news source and provide one clear example of market "failure". Please provide your source in your post!

Micro Question 3/9/11

Review the text and your notes regarding deadweight losses associated with monopoly. Can you provide one example where a monopoly actually results in greater benefits to society as a whole? Explain your example.

Micro Question 2/7/11

Find a headline (online or from other news sources) that could be partially explained by elasticity (of demand, supply, income, etc). Post the headline here with a one sentence explanation.

Micro Question 2/2/11

Consider your own consumption habits and budget; which item in your monthly expenditures is most elastic with respect to price? Which item is least elastic with respect to price? Why? (For example, I shared about my own very elastic demand for "Starbucks" coffee...)

Macro Question: February 2nd

How would you explain the concept of diminishing marginal productivity of capital to a 5th grader? (Remember: 5th graders are pretty smart people).

Micro question 1/24/11: Demand or Supply?

Which "Law" is more powerful: demand or supply? Why?

To Consume or Not Consume

Do you think we should adjust our "mix" of production to include more capital goods (versus consumption goods)? Why or why not?

Fairest of Them All?

Idea, idea in the text...

Which of the 10 Big Ideas in Chapter 1 of Cowen and Tabarrok is "fairest" of them all? That is...which idea do you think is the most relevant to critical thinking and/or decision making? Explain in a sentence or two why you choose the idea you do.

Last Question: Congressional Vote

Today, it was announced that Republicans are blocking the extension of additional benefits to those unemployed beyond the original 99 week extension. Citing concerns about the 13.8 trillion dollar debt, lawmakers suggested benefits could be helpful but should be paid for by cuts elsewhere. Ok, you are the Congress: how do you vote and why? Can you make use of our recent concepts regarding AD, velocity, fiscal policy, and budget deficits to support your position?

Week of 11/15

Your textbook authors suggested in the BIG 10 ideas of economics that Central Banking is hard. After this week's review, do you agree with your authors that the Fed does more good than harm? Why or why not?

October 27 Question

Which is the bigger challenge: high unemployment (8% or more) or high inflation? Why?

Week 5 Conversation

Do you think innovations and "ideas" will develop more rapidly through collaboration or competition? Why?

Week 2 Conversation

Which law do you think is more powerful: the law of demand or the law of supply? Why?

Welcome

This is a space for conversation about ideas.

It is designed to encourage and facilitate learning.

Weekly topics, questions, quotes and/or articles will be posted here. Conversations will take place (primarily) in comments, but will most likely spill over into classrooms, cars, texts, coffee houses, bars, residence halls...wherever it is we all find ourselves.

Please note this is a shared space with several groups of students (some macro, some micro, some economics of sport).

Allons-nous!