• Chapter 1. Live Together, Die Alone: Competition, Cooperation, and International Trade
• Chapter 2. The War on the Economy: Stimulus Spending and Job “Creation”
• Chapter 3. (Don’t) Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor…: Labor Migration in the Land of the Free and Beyond
• Chapter 4. Profits in the Political Marketplace: The Secret to Your Success?
• Chapter 5. The $1,200 Sticks: Supply, Demand, and the Economics of Prohibition
• Chapter 6. All You Can Eat: Demand and Supply at the Healthcare Buffet
• Chapter 7. Green Is the New Black: Environmental Problems and Policy
• Chapter 8. Santa, Inc.: Firm Decisions and the Pursuit of Profit
• Chapter 9. Spiking the Punch: Financial Markets, Principals, Agents, and Moral Hazard
• Chapter 10. Stairway to… Sweatshops?: What Foreign Factories Mean for You, Me, and the Developing World
• Chapter 11. Why Men Love Tools: Poverty at the Personal and National Levels
• Chapter 12. Land of the Free: Regulation, Redistribution, and Rights
  
  

• PART ONE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
• 1. Death by Bureaucrat
• 2. Innovation
• 3. Flying the Friendly Skies?
• 4. The Mystery of Wealth
• 5. The Economics of Exclusion
• PART TWO: SUPPLY AND DEMAND
• 6. Sex, Booze, and Drugs
• 7. The Economics of Obesity
• 8. Kidneys for Sale
• 9. Are We Running Out of Water?
• 10. Bankrupt Landlords, from Sea to Shining Sea
• PART THREE: LABOR MARKETS
• 11. Das Kapital in the Twenty-First Century
• 12. (Why) Are Women Paid Less?
• 13. The Effects of the Minimum Wage
• 14. The (Dis)incentives of Higher Taxes
• PART FOUR: MARKET STRUCTURES
• 15. The Platform Economy
• 16. Contracts, Combinations, and Conspiracies
• 17. Coffee, Tea, or Tuition-Free?
• 18. Keeping the Competition Out
• PART FIVE: POLITICAL ECONOMY
• 19. Health Insurance for All . . . Or Maybe Not
• 20. The Deception of Green Energy
• 21. The Fight over Genetically Modified Foods
• 22. Student Loans
• 23. The Graying of America
• 24. For Whom the Roads Are Tolled
• PART SIX: PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• 25. What to Do About the Climate?
• 26. Save That Species
• 27. Ethanol Madness
• 28. The Death of Recycling
• PART SEVEN: GLOBALIZATION AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
• 29. The Economics of the Big Mac
• 30. Globalization and the Wealth of America
• 31. The $750,000 Steelworker
• Selected References

Spark interest. This book focuses on the economics topics that interest students and invites them to apply the analytic tools they’re learning to relevant and important current issues.

Cover the topics in any order. While the order of the chapters often follows that of a standard survey textbook, each chapter was written to be freestanding and readable.

Highlight the important concepts. The Table of Contents in this text lists the five most important economic concepts readers will encounter in each chapter. These highlights are repeated at the beginning of each chapter so students are reminded of how they relate to key economic tools. Instructors can scan these lists of highlights and quickly assess how and where each chapter fits into a particular course.

Go beyond the material. The students who helped write this text didn’t expect all readers to agree with their take on the crucial issues, which is why all chapters include a section titled Read On/Join Up. In these sections, the student authors recommend readings that provide contrary points of view and information that provides more in-depth, detailed analysis than the chapters allow.          

Ask the right questions. Each chapter ends with a handful of questions that will help readers review the key concepts employed, think critically about the authors’ arguments, and apply the tools to additional issues.

Economics of Public Issues

Spark independent thinking and classroom discussion

• Readings are concise, allowing for easy integration into any principles of economics or issues-based classroom.
• A correlation guide in the preface illustrates how to integrate topics into different courses.
• Conversational and informative non-technical writing is geared toward principles-level students and does not require advanced math.
• Using the latest debates in social policy, the authors encourage readers to question their own assumptions and the analysis offered by the media and politicians on key issues.
• End-of-chapter questions offer students the opportunity to test their knowledge and review chapter concepts.
• Selected Readings for each chapter are listed at the back of the book for further student exploration.
• A Glossary is included at the back of the book to help students use new terms.