The Economist's View of the World: And the Quest for Well-Being

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Cambridge University Press, Oct 21, 2021 - Business & Economics - 313 pages
Released in 1984, Steven E. Rhoads' classic was considered by many to be among the best introductions to the economic way of thinking and its applications. This anniversary edition has been updated to account for political and economic developments - from the greater interest in redistributing income and the ascendancy of behaviorism to the Trump presidency. Rhoads explores opportunity cost, marginalism, and economic incentives and explains why mainstream economists - even those well to the left - still value free markets. He critiques economics for its unbalanced emphasis on narrow self-interest as controlling motive and route to happiness, highlighting philosophers and positive psychologists' findings that happiness is far more dependent on friends and family than on income or wealth. This thought-provoking tour of the economist's mind is a must read for our times, providing a clear, lively, non-technical insight into how economists think and why they shouldn't be ignored.
 

Contents

Opportunity Cost
9
Marginalism
28
Economic Incentives with Brooke Henderson
43
Government and the Economy
67
Economists and Equity
114
Externalities and the Government Agenda
151
CostBenefit Analysis
167
The Economists Consumer and Individual WellBeing
177
Representatives Deliberation and Political Leadership with
221
Conclusion
242
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About the author (2021)

Steven E. Rhoads is professor emeritus in politics at the University of Virginia. He received his AB in history from Princeton University in 1961. Steve then spent time in the US Navy, and at the US Bureau of the Budget as the Secretary of the Director's Review. At Cornell University he studied economics, American politics and the history of political philosophy, receiving the PhD in government in 1973. Steve and his wife Peggy live just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.