IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

Foreclosures and Deliquencies

Click on the title to access a recently released map of the concentration of foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies in the U.S. It's difficult not to notice the bleak picture painted in Florida.

Food Inc.

Click on the title above to access an interview with the director of a recent documentary on the industrialization of our food industry.

Marginal Product Calculation for AP Microeconomics

Summary: What happens to output when a firm adds more and more of a variable input to a fixed input? Eventually diminishing marginal returns set in.

In Favorite Ways to Learn Economics by David Anderson and James Chasey have an experiment "Econville Links Factory" in which students make links. I have modified the experiement so that students have to make "S" for Sharks. Students graph total product and marginal product and learn how marginal cost is related to marginal product. Here are the steps I used to make the M's.

1. I have a stack of 4" X 4" paper squares, a pair of scissors, and a blue marker. The work is completed on a desk. My rule is that a worker has to be at least touching the desk to be in the factory.

2. I add one worker and give the worker 30 seconds to make as many M's as possible.

3. After tbe round I record the total amount produced.

4. I repeat steps 2 and 3 until I have hired six workers.

Typical results are: 4, 10, 18, 24, 28, and 30.

I then ask students to look at the total product curve and identify when diminishing marginal returns set in. I show how specialization lead to a greater production of goods with less resources.

Dollars Fall A Boost To Exports

Paul Krugman on "crowding out".

A must read for AP Macro teachers: Paul Krugman explains why deficit spending during a recession does NOT cause crowding-out

A.P. Economics vs. Real Life

Click on the title above to access a quiz of fundamental macro principles. The blog comment raises the concern that Econ 101 fundamentals and the recent behavior of our monetary authorities have not coincided well.

If We Applied High Stakes Testing To Dentistry

Ron Paul Takes His Fed Offensive to the Daily Show

Ron Paul Takes His Fed Offensive to the Daily Show - Real Time Economics - WSJ

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The 10 Principles Of Economics Explained...Humorously

China's Economy May Eclipse Japan's as Soon as 2010

China?s Economy May Eclipse Japan?s as Soon as 2010 - NYTimes.com

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In Kenya, Tea Auction Steeped In Tradition, Gentility : NPR

In Kenya, Tea Auction Steeped In Tradition, Gentility : NPR

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