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Easy economics
Let's face it, economics can be boring…but we all need a decent understanding of the basics if we want to survive in these difficult and uncertain times. Let's make it more interesting. Easy Economics isn't packed with reams of text or stacks of numbers, this book is visual and engaging. The book aims to bring you up to speed, in a way that entertains while it informs, through a collection of many of the most frequently asked questions--plus some you probably haven't thought of--on the subject of economics. The topics range from: The difference between Debt and Deficit Causes and cures of recessions The Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 explained Is globalization good or bad? How fiscal and monetary policies differ Bubbles and Busts Unlike so many other books on the subject, it explains through a Q & A format with entertaining and informative illustration, providing material that many people ordinarily find uninviting and even intimidating in an easy-to-digest, appealing way.
eBook
A remembrance of things past A remembrance of things past
When we arrived as fresh-faced freshmen some 650 strong in the fall of 1952, we soon discovered that there were many traditions that had been established over the years before our arrival in Morningside Heights which had helped those who had gone before us become the upstanding, reflective, and mature individuals Columbia hoped we would become. Joint activities between the colleges included a “Barnard-Columbia Playday” which featured sports competitions, a picnic supper, and square dancing. The objective was for the freshmen to break through the sophomore line of defense that surrounded the pole, scale it and retrieve the blue beanie. [...]it should be heartily encouraged. [...]if there is any one thing that ties me and my fellow classmates to students of Columbia College today, and to the Barnard students who will always have a special place in my heart, it is that we have shared an educational experience that has prepared us for life as no other institution I know of ever has. Alma Mater The author received his B.A. in philosophy and literature as a member of the Columbia College class of 1956.
Newsletter
Columbia's shenanigans in the Eisenhower era Columbia's shenanigans in the Eisenhower era
If I remember correctly, despite our small class size, Columbia had more students go on to medical school than any other university in the nation.
Newsletter
Taxing & Spending: Policy makers often argue over which is a better steering wheel
Government collects taxes to pay for its spending. But taxing and spending—fiscal policy, as it is formally known—have other purposes as well. Government can use changes in spending and taxing to encourage behavior it considers a boon to society or discourage behavior it considers a bane. This chapter addresses several questions related to taxing. Some of these questions are—what is fiscal policy, who controls tax policy, where do taxes come from, how come the rich get away without paying taxes, what is a flat tax, and what is a consumption tax. The chapter focuses on who decides how to spend the money and how can government spending increase GDP and employment. In a recession the economy is performing at less than capacity, as the economists put it. Potential is going to waste. There are a lot of empty office buildings, shuttered hardware stores, abandoned coffee shops, and motorcycle factories reduced from three shifts a day to one.
Book Chapter
High-Flying Finance: The Wall Street elite can make the planet tremble
This chapter discusses how finance has evolved throughout the years. The business of buying and selling stocks and bonds began modestly and exploded into prominence with the great expansion of the railroads around the time of the Civil War. The reason is clear enough. Laying track across great stretches of land and manufacturing the engines and cars to fill the track was horrendously expensive. To finance it, railways sold stocks and bonds in great volumes. They are mutual funds for small groups of wealthy people and institutions, including at times pension funds and university endowments that are willing and able to go beyond the bounds of conventional investing. The chapter also provides an introduction to hedge funds. They are mutual funds for small groups of wealthy people and institutions, including at times pension funds and university endowments that are willing and able to go beyond the bounds of conventional investing.
Book Chapter
Getting Into Debt: It's been around from the beginning, but the cause has become more worrisome
This chapter presents difference between deficit and debt. The deficit is the shortfall during a single year between what the government spends and what it takes in through taxes and other receipts. Those other receipts are relatively small, but they include things like duties on some imported goods, the sale of government property, and the fees the government charges ranchers to graze their cattle on the expansive tracts of land the federal government owns in the West. The accumulation of all the deficits over the years, minus the occasional surpluses, is the national debt, which in late 2011 was almost $11 trillion and growing. The government sometimes borrows and then spends the loan in a deliberate effort to stimulate the economy. If it works, that kind of borrowing will help the economy recover more quickly. Economists are by and large skeptical, however, that such borrowing and spending is necessarily effective in all circumstances. The higher rates discourage corporations from borrowing and investing in new businesses, from cereals to cell phones that would create more jobs. The other bad effect is that an increase in government borrowing—at ever higher interest rates because of the competition—pushes up the amount of the federal budget that goes to paying interest to the lenders, domestic and foreign alike.
Book Chapter
Booms & Busts: As smart as they are, the pros can't remove all the bone-rattling bumps
Countries emerging from centuries of rural poverty, like China and India, can grow at a rate of 9% or 10% a year for some time without imploding. But a mature economy like that of the U.S. would soon overheat and boil with inflation. Better for the U.S. to grow steadily year after year at a rate of 3% or 4%. Unfortunately, economies are not so well behaved. Growth over time is marked by booms and busts. This chapter addresses several questions regarding the global economy. Some of these questions are—what do the experts mean when they say the economy is doing well or is doing poorly, what makes up the GDP, what makes the GDP grow, and when is the economy booming. One of the questions addressed in the chapter—what is productivity. It is a function of the economy that laymen do not pay much attention to, but one that the experts focus on. Growth in productivity means that there are more goods and services available to satisfy consumer demands without consumers having to battle one another. Another question addressed is—how does an overheated economy cool down. Often the Federal Reserve cools it down by raising interest rates. It becomes more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money, so demand falls. Demand is not just what people want; it is what they have the money to buy. But if demand falls too far, the economy grinds to a halt.
Book Chapter
The Fed: This very powerful institution performs a kind of magic
This chapter provides an introduction to Fed—a nonprofit institution, part government agency, and part private organization—and discusses its role in economy. Its primary role is to keep the economy moving ahead on an even keel. To prevent panics and failures, the Fed regulates banking practices and makes money available to banks when they come up short. The Fed performs various behind‐the‐scenes housekeeping duties that keep the banking system humming. These tasks include, among other things, check clearing, processing electronic payments, holding the federal tax dollars until the government is ready to spend them, and moving currency around the country to meet the needs of local banks. But its most important job is the setting and implementing of monetary policy. Through its monetary policy, the Fed attempts to control the amount of money and credit available to consumers and businesses. The Fed needs to walk a fine line, making enough money available to promote economic growth, but not so much as to cause inflation. Monetary policy aims to smooth out the peaks and valleys in the business cycle, while at the same time encouraging the economy to grow. When the Fed pays for the bonds it buys, it adds money to the economy. And when the Fed takes in money from the sale of bonds, the amount of money in the economy is reduced.
Book Chapter