NAKED ECONOMICS DUE DATES

THESE ARE THE DUE DATES FOR THE VARIOUS CHAPTERS OF NAKED ECONOMICS By Charles Wheelan.
For each chapter, there is a one page reaction expected. These should be your own thoughts on each section of reading. For some chapters there are guided questions given, we will discuss some in class, others we won't. Each reaction paper will be 25 points.
CHAPTER 1/2 DUE: 1/27
chp1- how do markets work? who feeds Paris? Why is that an important question? what is economics based on? what are the key ideas of economics?
chp 2- Why DO incentives matter in economics? What are some of the more interesting examples that Wheelan gives from the book? How about examples from your life?

CHAPTER 3/4 DUE: 2/10
Chapter 3-Government and the Economy
*At North Star, describe a positive or negative externality. (p.49)
o Create an incentive structure to encourage/discourage this behavior that raises/lowers the cost of behavior to better reflect its true social cost.
* On page 56, Mr. Wheelan describes government's institutions that "form the tracks on which capitalism runs."
o Name 5 of these institutions and describe their role in facilitating capitalist rules.
Chapter 4-Government and the Economy II
* If government, through tax initiatives could encourage certain spending in the economy, what kind of spending might they encourage? (p.75)
*why are government monopolies bad?
*why is political (instead of private) allocation of resources a bad thing?
*Government regulation, good or bad? Why?

CHAPTER 5/6 DUE 2/24
Chp 5 Questions: No real questions. This is a shorter chapter. But what did you find interesting? Has the idea of the "ECONOMICS OF INFORMATION" ever applied to you?
Chp 6- why is the idea of human capital so important?

CHAPTER 7/8 DUE 3/9
Chp 7 Questions: What are the keys to making money in the markets? How does this compare to what we talked about in our stock unit? If you want to challenge yourself, discuss the efficiency of markets theory.
Chp 8- General Thoughts?

CHAPTER 9/10 DUE 3/30
Chapter 9- A good opportunity to review some ideas from Unit 1 on trade. Abs v comp advantage, why people trade.
Respond to any one of Wheelan's comments on trade (these are the section headings in bold, italics). You can talk about ideas you agree with, disagree with. Points you found interesting, or points that you learned from.

CHAPTER 10- Federal Reserve DUE: 4/13
Hmm, this is a complicated topic. It is something you have heard of, but definitely not studied in depth. SO, here are some possible topics/questions to consider:

• What is the federal reserve?
• How does easy money policy cause inflation?
• What are some of the policy tools the Fed uses?
• Why is it hard to make monetary policy decisions?
• Why on earth does it make political sense to allow inflation?
• What other questions do you have about monetary policy?
  

CHAPTER 11/CHAPTER 12/ EPILOGUE DUE: 5/4
Chapter 11- The economics of "poor" nations.

• Based on the information in this chapter, what are some of the key things that so called third world countries need to look out for or keep in mind? Why? What examples do we have in the world today?

Chapter 12- Development Economics

• What are the key factors to allowing a country to develop economically?
• Is it the responsibility of "rich" nations to help out "poor" nations?

EPILOGUE/WRAP-UP

• Seven questions Dr. Wheelan talks about. What are the four best ones? Why?
  
• What further questions do you have for Wheelan?