“The 10 Things In Economics That Everybody Should Know”


1. People want far more at zero prices than they can possibly produce: goods and services have been, are, and almost surely always will be scarce.

2. People respond to incentives.

3. The cost of doing something is the value of the next best alternative foregone. (On the list.)

4 Sunk costs are sunk. (Or, sunk costs should be ignored in making decisions.)

5. Voluntary trade is mutually beneficial. (On the list.)

6. Market s are least-cost allocatiion mechanisms.

7. Future cash flows are worth less than nomimally equivalent current cash.

8. Inflation is, everywhere and always, caused by excessively high money growth.

Craig Newmark

Craig Newmark

Associate Professor of Economics, North Carolina State Univ.

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