Includes index

Economics: the study of opportunity cost -- Supply and demand -- The concept of elasticity and consumer and producer surplus -- Firm production, cost, and revenue -- Perfect competition, monopoly, and economic versus normal profit -- Every macroeconomic word you ever heard: gross domestic product, inflation, unemployment, recession, and depression -- Interest rates and present value -- Aggregate demand and aggregate supply -- Fiscal policy -- Monetary policy -- Federal spending -- Federal deficits, surpluses, and the national debt -- The housing bubble -- The recession of 2007-2009: causes and policy responses -- Japan's lost decade: could it happen in the United States? -- Is the (fiscal) sky falling? An explanation of unfunded Social Security, Medicare, and state and local pension liabilities -- International trade: does it jeopardize American jobs? -- International finance and exchange rates -- NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, WTO: Are trade agreements good for us? -- Economic growth and development -- The line between legal and illegal goods -- Natural resources, the environment, and climate change -- Health care -- Government-provided health insurance: Medicaid, Medicare, and the Child Health Insurance Program -- The economics of prescription drugs -- Health care reform: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- So you want to be a lawyer: economics and the law -- The economics of crime -- The economics of race and sex discrimination -- Farm policy -- Minimum wage -- Ticket brokers and ticket scalping -- Why college textbooks cost so much -- Education -- Poverty and welfare -- Social security -- Personal income taxes -- Energy prices -- If we build it, will they come? And other sports questions -- The stock market and crashes -- Unions -- Walmart: always low prices (and low wages) always -- The economic impact of casino gambling -- The International Monetary Fund: doctor or witch doctor? -- The cost of war -- The economics of terrorism -- Rent control -- Antitrust -- Head start