Pocket Professor Everything you Need to Know about Economics

by FIKE,D

• ISBN13: 9780671534912
• ISBN10: 0671534912
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Pocket Books

Summary

Your demand to understand economics is fully supplied in this irreverent resource that answers the age-old question, "Where has all my money gone?" Even if you find the GNP and CPI more confounding than the IRS, you'll learn to converse like an MBA, as this enlightening reference teaches you:
-- The seven magic words of economics
-- What every economist doesn't want you to know
-- Who put the "capital" into capitalism
-- 11 leading economic indicators that are sure to keep you up at night
-- and much more!

Covering every major topic in economic theory, this extraordinary compendium imparts practical wisdom, too -- with guidelines on how to read and understand financial news, why you can't always bank on banks, how to interpret the ups and downs of the stock market, and many other applications to everyday money management.

Table of Contents

Hey, Where Has All My Money Gone?	1	(1)
``You Call This a Science?''	2	(1)
The Stuff of Which Economic Dreams Are Made	3	(4)
The Seven Dirty Words of Economics	6	(1)
Dogged Economics	7	(1)
Tracing the Roots of Stuff	7	(3)
Vegetarian Economics	10	(1)
The Frog Princ (IPLE)	10	(2)
Betty Crocker Economics	11	(1)
What you Might Expect to Learn from This Book...	12	(1)
The Five Laws of Economics	12	(11)
The Theories Behind the Laws	12	(4)
Maybe Obi Heard It from the Ancient Greeks?	13	(3)
Where the Rubber Meets the Road	16	(3)
How to Apply the Five Laws of Economics in your own Life	19	(4)
Another Perspective on the Cellular Phone Market	22	(1)
Economic Truth...Or Consequences	23	(6)
It Ain't Schoolhouse Rock, But...	26	(1)
...And Now, the Pundits' Views	27	(1)
Cashing in on the Web	28	(1)
Who Put the ``Capital'' in ``Capitalism''?	29	(7)
``My Dad's Economy can Lick your Dad's Economy!''	31	(1)
Everything you Always Wanted to Know About Capital and Capitalism	32	(4)
Econ as Art	34	(1)
Or Is It Art as Econ?	35	(1)
Deep Pockets	35	(1)
The $5 History of Economics	36	(9)
The End of Duty Free	36	(1)
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations	37	(2)
Alexander Hamilton's Bank of New York and Other Adventures in Economics	39	(1)
This Debt Is Your Debt; This Debt is My Debt...	39	(1)
Take a Ride on Reading	40	(1)
Songs in the Keynes of Life	41	(1)
How to Start your Own Depression	41	(3)
FDR at Bat	43	(1)
Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, And Marx	44	(1)
A Brief History of the Corporation	45	(2)
Hide the Money---the Lawyers Are Coming!	46	(1)
``Make Mine Monopsony!''	47	(1)
Monopoly	47	(1)
Natural Monopoly	47	(1)
Monopsony	47	(1)
Oligopoly	48	(1)
Collusive Oligopoly	48	(1)
Henry Ford And Bill Gates Have A Couple of Better Ideas	48	(1)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit	49	(2)
Global Mallonomics	51	(1)
How To Talk Like an MBA	52	(8)
``The Law of Diminishing Returns''	52	(1)
``Economies of Scale''	53	(1)
``Fixed Cost''	54	(1)
...``Variable Cost''	55	(1)
``Variable Cost Per Unit'' And ``Total Variable Cost''	55	(1)
``Total Cost'' And ``Total Cost Per Unit''	56	(1)
``Marginal Revenue''	56	(1)
``Marginal Cost''	57	(1)
The Costco Principle	58	(1)
Shakespearean Economics	59	(1)
Heavy Metal	60	(9)
``Smoke'em if you've Got 'Em''	63	(1)
The Gold Standard	64	(2)
Don't Put Your Money Under Your Mattress	66	(1)
Stop the Presses!	66	(2)
``Give Me a Dollar's Worth''	67	(1)
Taking a Walk Through Bretton Woods	68	(1)
``Do as I Say, and Do as I Do''	68	(1)
Purchasing Power of a Dollar, 1792-1999	69	(1)
Value of Gold, 1792--1998	69	(1)
What Price Piracy?	69	(3)
``Welcome To Fantasy Island''	72	(1)
The Life Span of Alan Greenspan	73	(13)
What is the Federal Reserve?	73	(1)
Where is the Fed?	74	(1)
Does the Fed do More than Serve as a Bank for Bankers?	74	(1)
How to Read Tea Leaves and Deposit Slips	75	(1)
Why do we Need a Fed?	75	(1)
Where does Alan Greenspan Fit in?	76	(1)
What's it Take to be Chairperson of the Fed?	76	(2)
Which Came First---The Chicken or the Egg?	78	(1)
Getting Soaked with the Head of the Fed and the Prez	79	(3)
Rub-A-Dub-Dub...Two Beltway Insiders in a Tub	82	(1)
Meet the ``Evil Twins'' of Economics	82	(4)
Textbook Definition of Inflation	83	(2)
Why you'd Hate Inflation if you were a Banker	85	(1)
Who's who Among the Unemployed	86	(1)
Death and Taxes	86	(2)
Flat Tax	86	(1)
Regressive Tax	86	(1)
Progressive Tax	87	(1)
A Short History of Misery	88	(2)
The Seven Deadly Taxes	89	(1)
How to Win Friends and Influence People while at an Audit	90	(1)
Better Yet, How to Avoid an Audit Altogether	91	(2)
Always Leave 'Em Laffing---Part I	93	(1)
Always Leave 'Em Laffing---Part II	93	(1)
And Let's Not Forget About Entitlements...	94	(1)
Get your Voodoo Direct from the Source	94	(1)
Entitlements---Part II	95	(1)
Don't Believe everything you're Told	95	(1)
Debt? or Deficit?	96	(2)
``How can I be Out of Money when i Still have some Checks?''	98	(1)
Why Misery Loves Economists''	98	(5)
This is your Life	99	(3)
Pandora's Box	102	(1)
One CPI, Three GNPs, and 10 Quick Sketches of GDP	103	(6)
Consumer Price Index	103	(2)
Economic Indicator Fun	104	(1)
Gnp X 3	105	(1)
The Many Faces of Gdp	106	(3)
The Passover Principle	109	(3)
Why is this Economy Like no Other Economy?	109	(1)
Will This Ever End?	110	(1)
What is a Recession?	110	(1)
What is a Depression?	110	(2)
``But Doctor, I don't Feel Depressed''	111	(1)
Wealth 101	112	(16)
Report on ``the Stock Market Report''	113	(5)
Solve These Equations	114	(4)
Bonds. James' Bonds.	118	(4)
The Pollyanna Principle	121	(1)
Getting Rich at Work	122	(1)
How to Ask for a Raise	122	(2)
``Sure...Save Your Money, Sucker!''	124	(1)
Oops! Maybe Your Parents Were Right, After All...	124	(1)
When ``Goods'' are Bad	125	(3)
And Don't Think you're Getting Off the Hook	127	(1)
When the Laws of Science and the Laws of Economics Collide	127	(1)
Deciphering Economics...Once and for all	128	(3)
Baseball, Hot Dogs, and a Nobel Prize	128	(1)
Do It ``The Cowboy Way''	128	(3)
Birds do it, Bees do it...Even the Heads of Giant Corporations do it	129	(2)
Index	131