Includes bibliographical references (pages [255]-303) and index.
Contents:
Part I. Useful Concepts -- Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity -- Part III. The Limits of Economics. Acknowledgments to the First Edition – Acknowledgments – Introduction -- Part I. Useful Concepts -- 1. Opportunity Cost -- Engineers versus Economists -- Are Opportunity Costs Relevant for Lifesaving Programs? -- Opportunity Costs When Preserving the Natural Environment -- Further Reflections -- 2. Marginalism -- Human Needs and Marginalism -- Health Needs and the Demand for Medical Care -- Setting Priorities and Marginalism -- The Costs of Marginalism -- Further Reflections -- 3. Economic Incentives /with Brooke Henderson -- Economic Incentives and the Environment -- Weaknesses in the Current Regulatory System -- The Promising Power of Incentives -- Reasons for the Slow Adoption of Incentive-Based Approaches -- Political Feasibility of a Carbon Tax -- Flood Control – Congestion -- Further Reflections -- Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity -- 4. Government and the Economy -- Consumer Sovereignty, Welfare Economics, and Utilitarianism -- Economic Efficiency -- Free Markets and Flexible Prices -- Market Failure -- Government Failure -- Market and Government Allocation: Comparing Efficiency – Privatization -- Systemic Agency Inefficiency -- Wasting Money -- The Troublesome Nature of National Industrial Policies -- Theoretical Reasons for Industrial Policy Failures -- What Are Economists Worried about? -- Weaker Economic Growth and Lousy Statistics that Make It Seem Worse than It Is -- Misinformed Criticism of Some Market Characteristics -- Microeconomic Policies that Need Attention -- Licensing of Occupations and Overregulation of Commercial Life -- Stronger Antitrust Policies? -- Economists Warn against the Side Effects of Government Forcing Businesses to Be Kinder to Labor -- Further Reflections -- 5. Economists and Equity -- Pareto-Optimal Redistribution -- How Equal Is the Distribution of Income and Wealth and How Much Has It Changed through Time? --Poverty and Mobility at the Top and Bottom -- Redistribution -- More Growth or More Redistribution? -- Just Deserts -- What Would the Founders Say? -- Who Benefits and Who Loses -- Equity and the Price Mechanism -- 6. Externalities and the Government Agenda -- Why Externalities May Not Justify Government Intervention -- Externalities and the Desirable Scope of Government -- Externalities and Federalism -- Further Reflections -- Addendum: Cost-Benefit Analysis -- New Controversies in Cost-Benefit Analysis -- Part III. The Limits of Economics -- 7. The Economist's Consumer and Individual Well-Being -- Consumer Choice and Consumer Well-Being -- Changing Tastes and Preferences -- Economists and the Selfishness Assumption -- Avoiding Controversy through "Scientific" Neutrality -- Higher Tastes -- The Route to Happiness -- Further Reflections -- 8. Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership /with Russell Bogue -- Economists' Views -- The Political Function of Citizens -- Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership -- Further Reflections -- 9. Conclusion -- Final Thoughts
Summary:
"There is much talk these days of government programs that do not achieve their objectives. The economist, however, sees a bittersweet quality in even those programs that do achieve their objectives. The crowd at the groundbreaking for the new community recreation center finds it a happy occasion that will soon make available wholesome sports for the young and community-building opportunities for senior citizens. The economist broods: "Yes, but by spending the money here and not elsewhere, we give up the remedial reading program that might raise low-income students' test scores a full grade, and the new public park in the underserved north end of town. And what about the recreational opportunities that local families might enjoy if the tax dollars to pay for this center were left in their pockets?""-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.