Research Catalog

Title

Puzzles and paradoxes in economics / Mark Skousen and Kenna C Taylor.

Author

Skousen, Mark.

Publication

Brookfield, VT : Edward Elgar Publishing, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Taylor, Kenna C., 1945-

Description

xi, 215 pages; 25 cm

Summary

• Economics is full of puzzles and paradoxes that often frustrate and challenge everyone, including economists. This engaging book focuses on three types of paradox. First, everyday observations that appear to belie common sense (such as why do some supermarket items sell for more per ounce in larger sizes?). Secondly, those paradoxes which have perplexed economists in the past but have since been fairly resolved (such as the diamond-water paradox).
• Finally, empirical or conceptual anomalies that remain unresolved and present a challenge to today's economists (such as the voting paradox).
• This original and unusual book will have a wide appeal, ranging from the lay person with an interest in everyday economic puzzles, to the student and teacher wishing to develop their understanding of some of the paradoxes that have existed and continue to exist in economics. It will serve as an ideal source for teachers who want to challenge their students with unusual economic problems.

Subjects

• Finance
• Macroeconomics
• Marketing
• Microeconomics
• Economics
• Paradox
• Puzzles

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• 1. The Adam Smith paradox -- 2. The diamond-water paradox -- 3. The water problem -- 4. The case of the fourth egg -- 5. Profiting from pants -- 6. The price of quality -- 7. The rationality and risk puzzle -- 8. Gold's backward supply curve -- 9. The positive sloping demand curve? -- 10. The leisure paradox -- 11. The price discrimination dilemma -- 12. A hot vacation spot -- 13. The rare case of a Giffen good? -- 14. The case of the costly catsup -- 15. The mail order question -- 16. The businessman's query -- 17. Are teachers underpaid? -- 18. The pollution puzzle -- 19. Are market wages fair? -- 20. The highly valued occupation nobody wants -- 21. The stock market puzzler -- 22. Apples and the Alchian-Allen theorem -- 23. The perfect-market puzzle -- 24. The starvation of Buridan's ass -- 25. Does studying economics make one immoral? -- 26. The savers' dilemma -- 27. Keynes's banana plantation -- 28. Producing cars that don't sell --
• 29. The feckless forecast and policy purveyor puzzle -- 30. The growing but declining gap puzzle -- 31. The perpetual poverty puzzle -- 32. The paradox of thrift -- 33. The gold absurdity -- 34. The wager over wages -- 35. The voting behaviour puzzle -- 36. The voting paradox -- 37. A taxing debate -- 38. The blessings of destruction -- 39. The interest rate dilemma -- 40. The population puzzler -- 41. The efficiency versus equality puzzle -- 42. The national debt: asset or liability? -- 43. The Leontief paradox -- 44. The perversity of Wall Street.

ISBN

1858983789

LCCN

96042202

OCLC

• 503240662
• ocn503240662

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries