Interdependence and Trade Consider your typical day: – You wake up to a alarm clock made in Wenzhou – You put on some clothes made of cotton grown in Xinjiang and sewn in factories in Fujian Province

Outline The Economist as Scientist The Economist as Policy Adviser Why Economists disagree

Outline The economics of asymmetric information Political economics Behavioral economics

The Theory of Consumer Choice The theory of consumer choice addresses the following questions: – Do all demand curves slope downward? – How do wages affect labor supply? – How do interest rates affect household saving?

Differences in Earningsin the U.S. Today The typical physician earns about $200,000a year. The typical police officer earns about$50,000 a year. The typical farm worker earns about$20,000 a year

Factors of Production Factors of production are the inputs used to produce goods and services

Types of Imperfectly Competitive Markets Monopolistic Competition – Many firms selling products that are similar but not identical. Oligopoly – Only a few sellers, each offering a similar or identical product to the others

“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” . . . Benjamin Franklin 0 20 40 60 80 100 1789 Taxes paid in Ben Franklin’s time accounted for 5 percent of the average American’s income

International Trade What determines whether a countryimports or exports a good? Who gains and who loses from free tradeamong countries? What are the arguments that people usedto advocate trade restrictions?

Efficiency v. Equity – Efficiency means society gets the most that it can from its scarce resources. – Equity means the benefits of those resources are distributed fairly among the members of society