What is the best way to reduce carbon emissions?

Long-Term Costs of Cutting Emissions Grow Hazy

Friedman on the government's role to address poverty and the minimum wage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rls8H6MktrA

Is universal basic income a better solution to poverty than a myriad of welfare programs?

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/

Universal basic income let's the individual decide how to spend rather than having a government bureaucrat decide.

It would eliminate all sorts of government programs purported to help poor people and the costs of administering them programs.

Collusion is difficult to achieve

http://managerialecon.blogspot.com/2016/04/is-iran-free-riding-on-opec.html

5 truths about trade

http://www.wsj.com/articles/five-big-truths-about-trade-1461280205

How to produce less bad stuff and more good stuff

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/19/opinions/sutter-carbon-tax-washington-british-columbia/index.html

Does government regulation make insurance markets work better?

This article points out that regulation of health insurance (Obamacare) is an imperfect solution to whatever problems may exist the market: http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/obamacare-suffers-three-major-blows-in-one-week/.

Is an increase in the minimum wage a good way to make the distribution of income more fair?

This article say no: http://qz.com/664196/wholl-pay-for-a-15-minimum-wage/

Evidence that a high minimum wage distorts the job markets

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434003/minimum-wage-california-new-york-puerto-rico-future

Incentives in ObamaCare

http://time.com/4292290/how-obamacare-is-fueling-americas-opioid-epidemic/?xid=homepage

What leading economists think about increasing the minimum wage.

http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_br0IEq5a9E77NMV

Proof that a carbon tax works

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/opinion/proof-that-a-price-on-carbon-works.html?ref=opinion&_r

Wealth of China and India

This article talks about the relative growth rates in economic standards of living in China and India: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2007-03-05/indias-advantages-over-china.

Here is a punch line relevant to our discussion of Wealth of Nations:

"An economic litmus test is not whether a country can attract a lot of FDI but whether it has a business environment that nurtures entrepreneurship, supports healthy competition and is relatively free of heavy handed political intervention. In this regard, India has done a better job than China. From India emerged a group of world-class companies ranging from Infosys in software, Ranbaxy in pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Auto in automobile components and Mahindra in car assembly. This did not happen by accident."

Gains from trade?

This opinion says that trade with other countries raises the standard of living in both.

How strong is the Rule of Law in Zimbabwe?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-diamonds-idUSKCN0W52J3

Does the answer suggest that the standards of living in Zimbabwe are high relative to countries with similar resources?

Is GM trying to restrict entry?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-24/tesla-battles-general-motors-over-right-to-sell-cars-in-indiana

Here are some resoures on the web that may help students learn about gains from trade.

1. Watch the Economic Detective on comparative advantage and trade (2:31).
2. Watch this video describing the hockey stick of economic prosperity (4:54)
3. Watch Khan on comparative advantage and trade (8:55)
4. Optional: Visit this post to see 4 videos and 2 articles that present different opinions of whether free trade is good or bad. One article distinguishes between free trade and fair trade.

Economic Systems

Optional material:

1. Capitalism v. Communism from 1funkyteacher. It is a good account of some differences between the market system and the command system.
2. this slidecast for an extended discussion of the basic economic systems.

Does the gender of the seller affect the price buyers are willing to pay?

The article says, "Yes": https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/19/ebay-study-shows-online-shoppers-are-subconsciously-sexist.

Questions.

1. Does the evidence indicate that buyers are irrational? If not, what other explanations exist?
2. How could a savvy buyer take advantage of these differences in price?

Will the latest attempt to collude in the oil market succeed?

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, Venezuela Agree to Freeze Oil Output
by: Summer Said and Benoit Faucon
Feb 17, 2016
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com

TOPICS: Cartels, Oil Markets

SUMMARY: Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two largest crude-oil exporters, said Tuesday they would halt production increases as long as other major producers followed suit, but prices fell anyway as investors looked for more concrete action to reduce the global glut of petroleum.

CLASSROOM APPLICATION: Students can evaluate the recent commitment and strategy by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Venezuela to cap oil production. The commitment is contingent on other OPEC members, notably Iran and Iraq, following suit. Involved in the evaluation is the reasons that Iran and Iraq have for increasing oil production.

QUESTIONS: 
1. (Introductory) Why are Saudi and Arabia and Russia pushing OPEC members to halt increases in oil production?

2. (Advanced) Why have Iran and Iraq recently increased oil production? Are the two countries likely to halt increasing oil production?

3. (Advanced) What is Saudi Arabia's traditional role in OPEC? What was Saudi Arabia's rationale for abandoning this role in the recent past?

4. (Introductory) Why did the U.S. producers in the past year cut back on oil production?

Reviewed By: James Dearden, Lehigh University