Economics in Two Lessons : : Why Markets Work So Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly / / John Quiggin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2019 English
• VerfasserIn: Quiggin, John,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (408 p.) :; 6 b&w illus. 4 tables.

A masterful introduction to the key ideas behind the successes-and failures-of free-market economicsSince 1946, Henry Hazlitt's bestselling Economics in One Lesson has popularized the belief that economics can be boiled down to one simple lesson: market prices represent the true cost of everything. But one-lesson economics tells only half the story. It can explain why markets often work so well, but it can't explain why they often fail so badly-or what we should do when they stumble. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson quipped, "When someone preaches 'Economics in one lesson,' I advise: Go back for the second lesson." In Economics in Two Lessons, John Quiggin teaches both lessons, offering a masterful introduction to the key ideas behind the successes-and failures-of free markets.Economics in Two Lessons explains why market prices often fail to reflect the full cost of our choices to society as a whole. For example, every time we drive a car, fly in a plane, or flick a light switch, we contribute to global warming. But, in the absence of a price on carbon emissions, the costs of our actions are borne by everyone else. In such cases, government action is needed to achieve better outcomes.Two-lesson economics means giving up the dogmatism of laissez-faire as well as the reflexive assumption that any economic problem can be solved by government action, since the right answer often involves a mixture of market forces and government policy. But the payoff is huge: understanding how markets actually work-and what to do when they don't.Brilliantly accessible, Economics in Two Lessons unlocks the essential issues at the heart of any economic question.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ECONOMICS IN TWO LESSONS -- Introduction -- Lesson One, Part I: The Lesson -- Chapter 1. Market Prices and Opportunity Costs -- Chapter 2. Markets, Opportunity Cost, and Equilibrium -- Chapter 3. Time, Information, and Uncertainty -- Lesson One, Part II: Applications -- Chapter 4. Lesson One: How Opportunity Cost Works in Markets -- Chapter 5. Lesson One and Economic Policy -- Chapter 6. The Opportunity Cost of Destruction -- Chapter 7. Property Rights and Income Distribution -- Chapter 8. Unemployment -- Chapter 9. Monopoly and Market Failure -- Chapter 10. Market Failure: Externalities and Pollution -- Chapter 11. Market Failure: Information, Uncertainty, and Financial Markets -- Lesson Two, Part II: Public Policy -- Chapter 12. Income Distribution: Predistribution -- Chapter 13. Income Distribution: Redistribution -- Chapter 14. Policy for Full Employment -- Chapter 15. Monopoly and the Mixed Economy -- Chapter 16. Environmental Policy -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index