Chapter 1: Why Study Economics

Current Events

• When ‘Growth’ Is Not a Good Goal– Measure Gross National Happiness– Only Growth Can Sustain Us– Unchecked Growth Is a Path to Poverty– Progress for Whom?

Big Ideas

• Ends and means• Pareto efficient allocation• Allocation, distribution, scale• Growth versus development• Throughput• Coevolutionary economics

• There are an estimated 25,000 person hours of labor in a barrel of oil, and humanity uses on the order of 85 million barrels per day. How much of the surge in economic production since the 18th century do you think was due to the magic of the market, and how much to the magic of fossil fuels?

• Why might excessive resource use have greater impacts on future generations than on the current one? Look back at the definition of Pareto efficient allocation. If the current generation is the de facto owner of all resources, could it be Pareto efficient for the current generation to consume fewer resources so that future generations are better off?