What is Seen and What Is Not Seen by Frederic Bastiat (Audio, 18.11 minutes) Bastiat was an economist who was also a member of the French parliament in the middle of the nineteenth century. Interestingly, the issues he raises are as valid today as they were over 150 years ago. Reference: Bastiat, Frederic, Selected Essays on Political Economy. The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1995. Trans. Seymour Cain. Ed. George B. de Huszar. Library of Economics and Liberty. 27 January 2014.
Readings Reflective of Common Sense
(Permission to use educationally and non-profit purposes has been granted by author, Professor Dwight Lee, and the Freeman.)
The Crash of 2008: Cause and Aftermath By James Gwartney, David Macpherson, Russell Sobel, and Richard Stroup provides a comprehensive analysis of the current economic crisis. This recent crisis is an important macroeconomic event in our lifetime. The Crash of 2008: Cause and Aftermath addresses the cause, analyzes the future, and considers the often ask question of whether we forgot the lessons learned from the Great Depression. The Crash of 2008 PowerPoint slides will help teachers communicate valuable information on this topic to students.
Demand, Supply, and Adjustments to Dynamic Change: A Graphical Approach Common Sense Economics highlights how markets work and their impact on the allocation of resources especially in Part I. This feature will investigate this issue in more detail. It will use graphical analysis to analyze demand, supply, determination of the market price, and how markets adjust to dynamic change.
Gross Domestic Product: What It Is and How It Is Measured This feature provides supplementary analysis for the material in Part II of Common Sense Economics, particularly Element 1 which discusses the most widely used measure of output, Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Changes in GDP are also widely used to measure the growth of an economy.
What is a Dollar Worth? By the Federal Reserve System, Minneapolis, District 9 This calculator uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to calculate inflation comparisons from 1913 to present. The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases CPI data monthly.
