The Instant Economist: Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works

by Timothy Taylor

Overview

The Only Economics Book You Will Ever Need - A Library Journal 2012 Best Business Book of the Year

Economics isn't just about numbers: It's about politics, psychology, history, and so much more. We are all economists-when we work, save for the future, invest, pay taxes, and buy our groceries. Yet many of us feel lost when the subject arises. Award-winning professor Timothy Taylor tackles all the key questions and hot topics of both microeconomics and macroeconomics, including:

• Why do budget deficits matter?
• What exactly does the Federal Reserve do?
• Does globalization take jobs away from American workers?
• Why is health insurance so costly?

   

  The Instant Economist offers the knowledge and sophistication to understand the issues- so you can understand and discuss economics on a personal, national, and global level.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101559772
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/31/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	411 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Timothy Taylor is managing editor of the American Economics Association's Journal of Economic Perspectives. He won numerous teaching awards for his classes at Stanford University and was named a distinguished lecturer at the University of Minnesota. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 How Economists Think 1

Chapter 2 Division of Labor 7

Chapter 3 Supply and Demand 12

Chapter 4 Price Floors and Ceilings 22

Chapter 5 Elasticity 27

Chapter 6 The Labor Market and Wages 34

Chapter 7 Financial Markets and Rates of Return 42

Chapter 8 Personal Investing 49

Chapter 9 From Perfect Competition to Monopoly 58

Chapter 10 Antitrust and Competition Policy 64

Chapter 11 Regulation and Deregulation 71

Chapter 12 Negative Externalities and the Environment 76

Chapter 13 Positive Externalities and Technology 81

Chapter 14 Public Goods 87

Chapter 15 Poverty and Welfare Programs 90

Chapter 16 Inequality 98

Chapter 17 Imperfect Information and Insurance 103

Chapter 18 Corporate and Political Governance 110

Chapter 19 Macroeconomics and Gross Domestic Product 118

Chapter 20 Economic Growth 124

Chapter 21 Unemployment 13 0

Chapter 22 Inflation 136

Chapter 23 The Balance of Trade 144

Chapter 24 Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand 152

Chapter 25 The Unemployment-Inflation Trade-off 157

Chapter 26 Fiscal Policy and Budget Deficits 163

Chapter 27 Countercyclical Fiscal Policy 170

Chapter 28 Budget Deficits and National Saving 177

Chapter 29 Money and Banking 184

Chapter 30 The Federal Reserve and Its Powers 191

Chapter 31 The Conduct of Monetary Policy 201

Chapter 32 The Gains of International Trade 210

Chapter 33 The Debates over Protectionism 217

Chapter 34 Exchange Rates 225

Chapter 35 International Financial Crashes 234

Chapter 36 A Global Economic Perspective 242

References 251

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

Taylor breaks the complex ideas of macro- and microeconomics into bite-sized chapters, each covering a distinct aspect, by using examples and stories instead of formulas and equations.”—Library Journal
 
“Presenting a broad, non-mathematical treatment of microeconomics and macroeconomics, this book requires no prior knowledge of the subject and is clearly written. Taylor, the managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, also adds a good dose of humor.”—Reference & Research Book News
 
“Taylor sets out to teach us how economists think and begins with a microeconomics understanding of the economy (the view of individuals). We learn how markets work in the context of goods, labor, and financial capital and also about unregulated markets, including monopoly, the environment, and poverty; he notes that although these issues can attract democratic government involvement, such intervention can fail. He concludes with macroeconomics (an overall view of the economy), with topics including economic growth, unemployment, and inflation. Taylor wants us to respect the power of market forces but understand where those forces fall short; he encourages a belief that government policy can be useful but, in some cases, can be useless or even counterproductive... Excellent.”—Booklist

From the Publisher