Reading Assignments For Exam #1
- Due No Due Date
- Points 100
Reading Assignments for Exam #1
Read Chapter 1 - Limits, Alternatives, and Choices
Economics is about the fact that society has finite resources, and an infinite number of things that we can do with those finite resources.
But what exactly does it mean to say that something is finite??
What are resources? Is money a resource in economics? What are the implications of having finite resources for society?
Watch these Videos -
What Is Economics?
Links to an external site.
Positive and Normative Economics
Links to an external site.
Focus on the following concepts in your reading:
Opportunity Cost
Trade - off
Economic Capital
Investment
Production Possibilities Curve
Resources
Law of Diminishing Returns (Law of Increasing Opportunity Costs)
Positive Economic Statements
Normative Economic Statements
unemployment
underemployment
Watch the following videos:
Production Possibilities Curves
Links to an external site.
Production Possibilities Curves
Links to an external site.
Economics and Online Dating
Links to an external site.
How to Calculate Opportunity Costs -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrNbHCkv6A
Links to an external site.
Read the following links:
Minnesota State University - Monkato - http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~renner/ppc.htm
Links to an external site.
Lane Community College - http://media.lanecc.edu/users/martinezp/Notes/ppf.htm Links to an external site.
Now take the following practice test to see how you are doing:
http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0077337727/student_view0/chapter1/quiz.html
Links to an external site.
Answer Questions 1 - 19 on this exam from Iowa State University. (the answer key is at the end of the exam).
http://econ2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ101/monchuk/Practice%20Exam%20%231.pdf
Links to an external site.
Manufacturing Employment, Service Sector Employment, and Manufacturing Output - https://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/13-great-books-on-the-post-industrial-society
Links to an external site.
Read Chapter 2 - The Market System and the Circular Flow 
Focus on the following concepts in your reading:
Technology and Capital Goods
Specialization
uses of money
Five Fundamental Questions
Circular Flow of the Economy
Links to an external site. - video
Now see how you do on this multiple choice test:
http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0077337727/student_view0/chapter2/quiz.html
Links to an external site.
Read Chapter 24 - Measuring Domestic Output (only pages 485 - 492)
Focus on the following concepts:
GDP Calculations - the income approach (pg 492)
GDP Calculations - the expenditure approach (pg 488 - 491)
Value - added
take a look at what GDP does NOT count (pg 487)
take a look at the shortcomings of GDP (Pg 499 - 500)
Videos - These videos focus on different aspects of GDP and Inflation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgr1vRjxzFg
Links to an external site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDT2w5Wl84
Links to an external site.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9b8nnvpim0
Links to an external site.
Practice test - http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0073375691/student_view0/chapter24/quiz.html Links to an external site.
Read Chapter 25 - Economic Growth
Focus On:
Determinants of Growth Pg 512 - 513
Changes in technology and capital
Education and training - Look at the charts on pg 516 - 517 (college degrees and average test scores around the world!!)
Is Growth Desirable - pg 521 - 523
Practice Test: http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0073375691/student_view0/chapter25/quiz.html
Links to an external site.
Environmental Economics |
The Economics of Happiness - Commencement Speech by Ben Bernanke - University of South Carolina - May 8, 2010 -http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100508a.htm (Links to an external site.)
2015 Happiness Report - http://worldhappiness.report/ (Links to an external site.)
The World Happiness Report - http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679633/the-world-happiness-report-explains-what-makes-people-happy (Links to an external site.)
Justin Wolfers and Betsy Stevenson Discuss Income and Happiness -http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/06/stevenson_and_w.html (Links to an external site.)
James Tobin and William Nordhaus - Is Growth Obsolete? (1972)- http://www.nber.org/chapters/c7620.pdf (Links to an external site.)
PBS - costs and benefits of global warming - http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-the-benefits-of-climate-action-may-outweigh-the-costs (Links to an external site.)
Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare - Measure of Economic Well-Being and Measures of Sustainable Economic Welfaire -http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Global_economics/Measure_of_economic_welfare_MEW.html (Links to an external site.)
The OECD Better Life Index - http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ (Links to an external site.)
Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare/ Genuine Progress Indicator -http://web.pdx.edu/~kub/publicfiles/MeasuringWellBeing/Talberth_2006_GPI.pdf (Links to an external site.)
The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), later revised and renamed
the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), is a measure that uses GDP as a foundation. It was first proposed in 1989 by Herman Daly and John Cobb in their book
For the Common Good as “a way of measuring the economy that will give better guidance than the GNP to those interested in promoting economic welfare”.
Genuine Savings - http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/topic/environment/gensavings.pdf (Links to an external site.)
Genuine Savings (GS) was developed for the World Bank (World Bank
1997) and is defined as “the true level of saving in a country after depreciation
of produced capital; investments in human capital (as measured by
education expenditures); depletion of minerals, energy, and forests; and
damages from local and global air pollutants are taken into account” .
Ecological Footprint - http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators (Links to an external site.)
The Ecological Footprint (EF) was developed by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees as a way to account for flows of energy and matter into and out of the human economy and convert those flows into a measure of the area of productive land and water required to support those flows (Wackernagel and Rees 1996). The EF is intended to be used as a resource management tool for assessing whether and to what extent an individual, city, or
nation is using available ecological assets faster than the supporting ecosystems can regenerate those assets.
Human Development Index - http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics (Links to an external site.)
Since 1990, the United Nations Development Program has used the Human Development Index (HDI) in its annual Human Development Report. The purpose of the report is to show how well the management of economic growth and human development is actually improving human well-being in the nations of the world. The inaugural report defines human
development as the “process of enlarging people’s choices...to live a long
and healthy life, to be educated, have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living,...[to have] political freedom, guaranteed human rights
and personal self-respect.” However, the authors acknowledge the difficulty of quantifying the last three components, and the index focuses on “longevity,
knowledge and decent living standards” as proxies for people’s ability to live long and prosperous lives (UN Development Program 1990).
The Living Planet Index (LPI) - http://www.zsl.org/science/research-projects/indicators-assessments/index (Links to an external site.),134,ZI.html
is a measure of the world’s forests,freshwater and marine ecosystems, specifically on the “extent and severity of
biodiversity loss” (Hails 2006).
Happy Planet Index - http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ (Links to an external site.)
The purpose of the Happy Planet Index (HPI), developed and published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), is to measure a country’s ecological efficiency in delivering human well-being. The index is a composite of three
measures: life expectancy at birth, life satisfaction, and ecological footprint.
Robert Kennedy - University of Kansas -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7-G3PC_868 (Links to an external site.)
(begin minute 16:10)
OECD Better-Life Index - http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ (Links to an external site.)
World Bank - Population Growth and Fertility Rates -http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_03.pdf (Links to an external site.)
Italian Finance Minister - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8934974/Italian-welfare-minister-in-tears-over-austerity-measures.html (Links to an external site.)
OECD Total Fertility Rates - http://www.oecd.org/std/37962718.pdf (Links to an external site.)
Economics/Environment Discussion - NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1& (Links to an external site.)
t=1&islist=false&id=120536304&m=120545562
Freakanomics - How effective is California's Energy Efficient Housing Requirements -
http://freakonomics.com/2015/02/05/how-efficient-is-energy-efficiency-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast (Links to an external site.)
How To Calculate Opportunity Costs Links to an external site.
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