Professor Jeff Herbener
Reading: Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus, Economics, 19th edition (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2010)
Each Lecture corresponds to the same Chapter number in Samuelson’s book.
- Is there a distinctive economic way of thinking?
- What is the proper role of the state in the economy?
- How do prices coordinate social interaction?
- How useful is demand and supply analysis?
- Homo Economicus or homo agens?
- Is the business firm merely a production function?
- Is cost merely the monetization of a production function?
- Need competition be perfect?
- Is competition everywhere imperfect?
- Is regulation necessary?
- Is risk distinct from uncertainty?
- Are income and wealth equitably distributed?
- Are wages deserved?
- Do we exploit the environment?
- Are interest and profit really necessary?
- Where do we draw the line between the state and the market?
- How do we help the poor?
- How should we treat foreigners?
- What is macroeconomics?
- Are there any useful macroeconomic statistics?
- Which is more important, consumption or investment?
- What causes business cycles?
- How does money affect production?
- Is monetary policy stabilizing or destabilizing?
- What causes economic growth?
- Why is economic growth uneven?
- What determines the pattern of international trade?
- How does an open-economy operate?
- What causes unemployment?
- What causes inflation?
- What are the consequences of government debt?
