Few pieces of legislation have been subject to as much confusion, deception, and outright lies as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). I suppose the confusion starts right with the name. Most people refer to it as “Obamacare” as if the law primarily sets up the government as the provider of medical care… Read More »
Back in Unit 2, I made the point that it’s the economic problem that gives rise to society’s need to have an organized economic system: In very broad terms, we (both as individuals and as a society), have to make four types of decisions over and over and over all the time. These four decisions… Read More »
I have a real soft spot in my heart for Hans Rosling. It’s for 3 big reasons. First, he’s an empiricist. He always asks what the data really say. And then he adjusts his thinking to the facts, not the other way around. Second, he’s helped create some really, really cool software and webtools. Like… Read More »
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It is a 2007 book by Professor Paul Collier exploring the reason why impoverished countries fail to progress despite international aid and support. In the book Collier argues that there are many countries whose residents have experienced little, if any,… Read More »
For Unit 4, I want you to do the following: You need to read: Read and listen/watch as needed to Jim’s Posts for Unit 4; post to your own blog your thoughts and reactions Read each other’s posts as they come in. I recommend checking the course home page each day or every other day… Read More »
Hi folks! As I’ve said several times before, this course is a first-time experiment (the design and layout, not the subject). I’m probably learning more than you are. As part of the learning process, I’ve made a few minor adjustments to the syllabus and grading/assignments for the course. The total points don’t change – still… Read More »
In previous units we’ve focused on economic growth, wealth, incomes, and development. But in doing that we’ve focused on what we could call the winners and the on-their-way-to-winning. In this unit we’re going to turn our attention to the less fortunate – the poor. In shifting our attention, we need to realize that there’s two… Read More »
Jim’s Note: Culture oftentimes gets short attention in economics, yet it’s an enormously powerful factor in determining the success, development, or failure of economies. In the this video, Tarun Khanna looks at China and India. These two countries are neighbors. They are the two most populous countries in the world. Both are rapidly developing and… Read More »
Capitalism vs. Socialism: The Background Ideology and The First World A lot of people argue about communism, capitalism, and socialism. These are questions of ideology. In political discussions people easily throw around the labels “socialist” or “greedy capitalist”. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election some Republicans accused Barak Obama of being a “socialist”. On the… Read More »
For Unit 2, I want you to do the following: You need to read: The Jim’s Readings for Unit 2. These are two required readings posts I created – kind of written mini-lectures. If you missed them in the ordinary flow of the blog posts on the home page, don’t worry. They are listed/linked under… Read More »