Plain Sense Economics

For my Principles of Microeconomics students there is an interesting article in The New York Times about gas prices and miles driven each year. In a rough way this is like a demand curve – price on the vertical axis, and quantity (in this case miles driven) on the horizontal axis. A comment from the [...]

This post in Freakonomics is cool. Why kiwi fruit is cheap in New York City and other market imponderables.

This article in The New York Times, by theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan, complains that economists rely too heavily on outdated views of how markets work. There’s lots to think about here, and perhaps argue with, but it is a very thoughtful piece worth a read.
a quick excerpt…
Well, part of the reason is that economists still [...]

When we tackle the demand curve and the various determinants of demand, one of the influences we discuss is that of income. In a normal good, when income goes up demand for that good goes up. So demand for dinners at nice restaurants would be expected to rise as the economy (and people’s incomes) rises.
There [...]

Today we spend some time on demand and supply – topics relevant to students taking either microeconomics or macroeconomics. Adam Smith, who lived in Great Britain in the late 1700s, helped us understand how marvelous market actions can be. We bring together buyers (those who determine the shape and position of the demand curve) with [...]