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Tag Archives: economics
Mercantilism is Dumb
I usually try to make Great Books Project posts on Mondays, but the hurricane delayed last week’s post until Wednesday, and I am in catch-up mode. In the meantime, it was easy for me to knock out this econ post. … Continue reading
An “Open Letter to Warren Buffett”
Over on my Reading Economics page, I’ve outlined a plan to read through, among other things, George Reisman’s program of readings. In that light (although I haven’t actually posted on anything from that series yet), I thought it was worth … Continue reading
Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson”
[This review originally appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of the Journal of Faith and the Academy.] Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. Baltimore: Laissez Faire Books, 2012 [1946]. 181 pp., paperback, $14.95 (ebook $9.00). Ordinarily, the reissuing in paperback … Continue reading
Prices of Factors of Production
Chapter 9 of Shawn Ritenour’s Foundations of Economics deals with something readers might think was already covered sufficiently in the earlier chapters on market prices: prices of factors of production. This is the final category of income received by market participants (in … Continue reading
Interest and Profit
Marxists, beware. In Chapter 8 of Foundations of Economics, Shawn Ritenour explains how the economic phenomena of interest and profit, both of which are anathema to the socialist Left, are natural and necessary features of life in a division-of-labor economy. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Economics
Tagged capitalist, economics, entrepreneur, income, interest, interest rate changes, market prices, production, profit, Shawn Ritenour, time preference
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Production, Capital, and Income Maximization
In Chapter 7 of Foundations of Economics, Shawn Ritenour gets into capital theory and explains how entrepreneurs try to maximize their income once they have forecast demand for their products. One of the questions I had before reading this book … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Economics
Tagged economics, entrepreneur, income, market prices, marketplace changes, production, Shawn Ritenour, supply
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Market Changes
Chapter 6 of Shawn Ritenour’s Foundations of Economics examines what happens when the supply or demand of a good or service in the marketplace changes. Ritenour makes the point that confusion sometimes results from a change in market prices. When … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Economics
Tagged demand, demand changes, economics, market prices, marketplace changes, Shawn Ritenour, supply
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Free Sample Lectures from My Liberty Classroom Series
Three of my 84 lectures for the Liberty Classroom website have been posted as free samples. Here are the topics: Introduction to Western Civilization Renaissance Humanism Absolutism and Mercantilism The videos are available at this link, where you can also … Continue reading
Indirect Exchange and Market Prices
Chapter Five of Shawn Ritenour’s Foundations of Economics introduces us to the concept of money, which every society has developed to address the problems inherent to a barter economy. In a society where the division of labor has developed to … Continue reading
Laws of Human Action
Chapter 3 of Shawn Ritenour’s Foundations of Economics argues that the law of marginal utility and the law of (diminishing) returns are the most fundamental laws of human action. The chapter opens with a presentation of the diamonds-water paradox discussed … Continue reading
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