Economics Principles and Problems Fourth EditionPDF电子书下载

PART ONE THE BASIC ECONOMIC PROCESSES 1

CHAPTER 1．INTRODUCTION 3

Economic activities and human wants 4

Utility and consumption 4

Standards and planes of living 4

Wealth and economic goods 5

Objectives of economic activity 6

Organization of the means of production 8

Forms of economic organization 8

Organization of economic life under private-business enterprise 10

Private property and freedom of contract 10

Operation of business enterprise under private property and contract 11

The Sharing of the product：distribution 12

Exchange and price 13

Business enterprise and the price system 13

Simplified view of the operation of individualistic exchange economy 15

Economic institutions 16

Government in the individualistic economy 17

CHAPTER 2．PRODUCTION 20

The nature of production 20

The growing volume of production 21

The factors of production 22

Management 24

The measurement of production 24

Index of production 25

Size of the national income 26

Netvalue product 26

Major branches of production 27

Main types of economic fluctuation 28

Roundabout production 29

Division of labor 30

The technology of production 32

Standardization 33

The automatic machine and quantity production 35

Large-scale production 36

Coordination of the specialized machine processes 38

Science，research，and invention 39

Research agencies 40

Business research 41

Incentives to invention and discovery 42

Growth and results of research 42

Conservation 43

Summary 44

CHAPTER 3．THE ORGANIZATION AND DIRECTION OF PRODUCTION 47

The individual proprietorship 47

The partnership 48

The co-operative enterprise 49

The government enterprise 50

The corporation 50

Marketing of corporate securities 54

Separation of corporate ownership and control 55

Evolution of forms of combination 59

Big business and combination 61

Suppression of competition 65

The role of the promoter 66

Successes and failures in combinations and big business 66

Technology and large-scale production 68

Leadership in big business 69

Interlocking directorates 70

Financing big business 71

Legality of big business 73

CHAPTER 4．CONSUMPTION 76

The meaning of consumption 77

who are the consumers？ 78

The measurement of consumption 79

Differences in consumption 81

Growth of consumption 82

Changes in consumption 82

Main types of fluctuation in consumption 84

Budgeting of income 87

Consumption a matter of making choices 88

Modifications of freedom of choice 88

Consumers＇ choices and the price system 90

Consumer Credit 92

Guidance of consumers＇ money choices 94

Savings 103

Current trends in consumption 106

Unfavorable aspects of consumption 107

Welfare and consumption 109

PART TWO THE MECHANISM OF EXCHANGE 111

CHAPTER 5．MONEY 113

Definition of money 113

Forms of money 114

Deposit currency versus money 114

Reasons for the general acceptability of money 115

Functions of money 116

Qualities of a good money 119

Types of money in the United States 120

Coinage 123

The printing of paper money 124

Legal tender 124

The monetary system 125

Functions of the monetary standard 126

Classification of monetary standards 127

Technical operation and characteristics of monetary standards 127

Advantages and disadvantages of the types of monetary standards 130

The controversy over standards 134

Criterion for choosing the monetary standard 134

Evolution of the monetary standard of the United States 135

CHAPTER 6．BANKING INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES 143

Classes of banks 143

Credit Instruments 146

Commercial-bank organization 146

Functions of commercial banks 148

Effects of commercial-bank operations on the balance sheet 150

Commercial banks＇ loans and investments 155

Commercial banks and the creation of purchasing power 158

Interbank relationships 160

Federal Deposit Insurance 163

Evolution of the banking system 165

CHAPTER 7．THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 172

Functions of central banks 173

Background of the Federal Reserve system 174

Administrative mechanism of the Federal Reserve system 175

Operations and accomplishments of the Federal Reserve system 180

Supervision of bank operations 197

CHAPTER 8．PRICE-LEVEL MOVEMENTS 200

Factors in the construction of price index numbers 201

Types of price-level movements 204

Consequences of money-value changes 205

Supply of money 208

Demand for money 208

Determination of the value of money 209

An equation of exchange 210

Criticisms of the quantity theory of the value of money 213

Monetary proposals for regulation of price levels 215

Choice of a monetary standard 218

CHAPTER 9．FOREIGN EXCHANGE 221

The bill of exchange 222

Methods of financing foreign transactions 222

Bank operations in foreign echange 224

Demand and supply of foreign exchange 224

Rates of exchange between gold-standard countries 224

Triangular and multilateral exchange 226

Arbitrage 227

Correctives of disequilibrium in the balance of international payments between gold-standard countries 227

Rates of exchange between non-gold-standard countries 230

Exchange between gold-standard and paper-standard countries 231

Exchange between paper-standard countries 234

The role of gold movements between paper-standard countries 235

Fluctuations of exchange rates between paper-standard countries 235

Exchange controls 238

Correctives of disequilibrium in the balance of international payments between paper-standard countries 239

Policies for stabilization of exchange rates between paper-standard countries 241

Forward exchange 244

Organization of foreign-exchange markets 245

Relative importance of international exchange markets 245

The choice of a monetary standard 247

PART THREE VALUE AND PRICE 251

CHAPTER 10．THE PROBLEM OF VALUE AND PRICE 253

Scarcity 253

Wants 255

Relationship between scarcity and wants 256

Three characteristics of economic goods 256

Solution of the economic problem 257

The phenomenon of price 259

Price and value 260

The role of price 261

Some fundamental questions 262

The principle of maximization 266

Conclusion 268

CHAPTER 11．AN ANALYSIS OF DEMAND 271

Demand and consumption 271

Utility 271

Solution of the problem of consumer choice 275

Equilibrium 275

A general theory of consumer choice 276

Effects of income changes on consumer expenditures 278

Effects of price changes on consumer expenditures 280

Demand 282

Meaning of demand 283

Negative slope of the demand curve 285

Changes in demand 286

Elasticity of demand 287

CHAPTER 12．SUPPLY AND DEMAND 291

Market situations in economic analysis 291

Time periods in economic analysis 298

Market supply 300

Reservation price 301

Changes in supply 303

Elasticity of supply 303

Competitive market price 304

Market-equilibrium price 305

Effects of changes in demand and supply 306

Monopolistic market price 307

CHAPTER 13．THE PRICING PROCESS UNDER COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS 311

The sales curve 311

Short-run normal price 317

Long-run normal price 320

Differential costs 322

Fluctuating prices 323

The normal-supply curve 325

Increasing and constant costs 326

CHAPTER 14．MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION AND MONOPOLY 329

The sales curve under monopolistic conditions 329

Marginal revenue under monopolistic conditions 330

Equilibrium under monopolistic competition 332

Long-run equilibrium under different conditions 334

Price policies under oligopoly 335

Decreasing costs 336

Prices under duopoly 338

Conditions giving rise to monopoly 339

Monopoly equilibrium 340

Monopoly price policies 340

Monopsony 342

The effect of monopoly upon price 343

CHAPTER 15．PROBLEMS AND PRACTICES IN VALUATION 346

Valuation of corporate securities for purposes of investment or speculation 346

Valuation of public utilities for purposes of rate making 349

Valuation of property for purposes of taxation 351

Valuation for miscellaneous purposes 352

Price fixing by government 353

Government price control after the First World War 354

Price control and the Second World War 355

Fair and unfair competition 358

Price maintenance 359

Discriminatory price practices 360

Abstract competitive price versus reasonable price 364

Continued trend toward monopoly 365

Monopoly influences on price policies 366

Limits to monopoly influence on prices 368

PART FOUR FUNCTIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME 371

CHAPTER 16．THE NATIONAL INCOME AND THE PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION 373

Difficulties in income measurement 373

The problem of income distribution 380

Methods of income distribution 381

Extension of governmental actvity 382

Approximate functional distribution of national income 383

Distribution of income during the Second World War 386

Introduction to the theory of distribution 387

The meaning of property rights 387

CHAPTER 17．THE THEORY OF WAGES 397

The Malthusian doctrine and its setting 397

Long-time factors affecting labour supply 399

Short-time factors affecting labor supply 400

Total labor-supply variations 401

The supply of labor to the individual firm or industry 402

Migration and economic opportunity 403

The supply of labor to the individual firm，and the time factor 405

The supply of labor：summary 406

The demand for labor and the determination of wage rates 407

Who wants labor and why？ 407

Productiveness of labor in relation to number of workmen 408

Reason for decrease in average output per man and possible decrease in the total 409

Why the rate of growth in total output changes 410

Marginal productivity 411

Development of a marginal-productivity curve 412

Marginal productivity measured in money 414

The marginal value productivity curve in competitive industries 415

The marginal value productivity curve under monopolistic conditions 415

Conversion of the diminishing marginal value productivity into demand for labor 415

Significance of the quantity and order 417

The simplified model completed：a labor market 418

Allowance for individual differences among workers and working groups 420

Further significance of derived demand：Re-emphasis of marginal value productivity 422

Allowance for time in determining marginal productivity 423

Product price changes and the demand for labor 423

Elasticity of demand for labor 424

Other factors in marginal productivity and wages 426

A summary and a warning 426

CHAPTER 18．INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF THE LABOR MARKETS 429

Factors affecting size of American labor markets 430

Factors affecting character of labor 433

Concentration of employment 438

Organic nature of human effort 439

Wage adjustment and mobility 444

Government control of the operation of labor markets 448

Industrial accidents and diseases 452

Government regulation of the employment contract 457

Government encouragement of collective bargaining 459

Collective bargaining and trade uinions in the labor markets 461

Industrial location of unionism 462

Structure of American unionism 462

Trade unionism and collective-wage agreements 463

Collective bargaining and the theory of wages 464

Government as a mediator 464

CHAPTER 19．INTEREST 468

Use of equipment in the production process 468

The savings and investment process 470

The nature of interest 471

The nature of the interest rate 471

Composition of the market interest rate 475

The demand for funds 477

Sources of the supply of investment funds 479

Determination of market rates of interest 485

Explicit and implicit interest 487

Interest rates and other business conditions 487

Interest and the capitalization process 489

CHAPTER 20．RENT 493

Comparisons of land and equipment 493

Merging of land and equipment in economic analysis 494

The problem of unearned increment 494

Distinction between economic rent and commercial rent 495

Differences between rent and interest 496

The demand for the uses of land 497

The supply of the uses of land 497

Differences in land utilization 498

The margin of substitution 500

The general theory of economic rent 501

The law of diminishing returns 503

Economic rent as a differential 510

Intensive and extensive margins 511

The scarcity aspect of the land factor 512

Rent and cost of production 515

The valuation of land 517

Value appreciation and unearned increment 518

Conclusion 520

CHAPTER 21．THE THEORY OF PROFITS 523

Composite nature of profit 523

The accountant＇s concept of profits 525

Profits and losses of corporations 527

Differences in profits among different concerns 528

Profits and dividends 530

Profits a residual share 531

Sources of pure profit 532

Strategic position of enterprisers 533

Monopoly profit 534

Pure profit as related to risk and ability 534

The concept of necessary profit 535

CHAPTER 22．THE ROLE OF PROFIT IN PRIVATE-ENTERPRISE CAPTALISM 538

Production versus profits 538

Effects of production on profits 539

Effects of profit expectations on production 540

Profit and property valuation 541

Cost of profit to the consumer 542

Profit during periods of inflation 543

Profit and government policy 544

The profit motive and social well-being 545

PART FIVE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 551

CHAPTER 23．PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE 553

International trade in a free economy 553

Comparison of international and domestic trade 555

The United States in world trade 556

Importance of international trade to the United States 558

Geographical distribution of United States trade 561

Commodity distribution of United States trade 564

Prices and international trade 566

Effect of distribution of United States trade 564

Prices and international trade 566

Effect of distribution of resources on trade 567

Trade equilibrium and comparative differences in cost 571

Foreign investment and the flow of trade 576

The balance of international payments 580

CHAPTER 24．PROBLEMS AND POLICIES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE 586

Purpose and nature of the tariff 586

Effects of the tariff 588

Method of making tariffs 590

The case for and against protection 591

Recent governmental trade controls 599

Current problems in international trade 603

Trade policy 609

The International Trade Organization 611

PART SIX GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS AND FINANCE 615

CHAPTER 25．GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS，EXPENDITURES，AND DEBTS 617

The role of government in economic affairs 617

The productive character of governmental activities 618

Increase of governmental expenditures 622

Expenditures by function 625

Grants-in-aid 627

Government economic enterprises 629

Public debts 631

The federal debt 633

Borrowing for war 633

The lend-lease program 635

Deficit spending and the depression 636

State and local debts 637

General conclusions regarding public debt 638

The federal budget 639

CHAPTER 26．THE PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION 643

Basic theories of taxation 643

The shifting and incidence of taxation 647

Shifting，evasion，and avoidance 652

Regulatory taxation 653

The need for centralized administration 654

Requisites of a good tax system 655

CHAPTER 27．FEDERAL，STATE，AND LOCAL TAXES 660

Importance of taxes for revenue 660

FEDERAL TAXES：Income taxes 661

Internal excise taxes 665

Customs duties 665

Estate taxes 666

Pay-roll taxes 667

War-profits and excess-profits taxes 668

STATE AND LOCAL TAXES：General property tax 669

State income taxes 672

Corporation and business taxes 673

Inheritance tax 674

Gasoline taxes 675

Sales taxes 676

Fees 677

Special assessments 677

PART SEVEN THE ECONOMICS OF RISK 681

CHAPTER 28．RISK IN ECONOMIC LIFE 683

The nature of economic risk 683

Meeting the problem of economic risk 685

CHAPTER 29．BUSINESS CYCLES 694

Variations and similarities of business cycles 694

Duration of business cycles 695

Phases of the business cycle 698

Some theories of business cycles 706

The business cycle an unsolved problem 711

Desirability of eliminating cyclical fluctuations 711

Stabilization of business 712

CHAPTER 30．INSURANCE 719

Insurance as a means of sharing economic risk 719

Conditions necessary for insurance 720

Comparison of private and social insurance 724

Life insurance 727

Property insurance 733

Workmen＇s compensation insurance 735

Unemployment insurance 738

Old-age and survivors＇ insurance 741

Conclusion 743

PART EIGHT MAJOR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 747

CHAPTER 31．THE MAINTENANCE OF FULL EMPLOYMENT 749

The meaning of full employment 750

Unemployment in the United States 751

Significance of unemployment in labor markets 760

Unemployment and the marginal-productivity analysis 761

Methods of dealing with unemployment 766

The Employment Act of 1946 771

Economic problems of full-employment legislation 773

CHAPTER 32．PERSONAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH AND INCOME 775

Inequality of wealth versus inequality of income 775

The problem of inequality 776

Some data on inequality 776

Effort versus ownership in distribution 783

Institutional basis of inequalities in fortune 784

The corporation as a property institution 786

Diffusion of ownership 786

Inequalities of fortune due to unequal privileges 787

Inequalities of fortune due to unequal abilities 791

Effects of extreme inequality 794

Proposed methods of dealing with inequality 795

CHAPTER 33．PUBLIC CONTROL 799

Major factors affecting public control 799

Changes in public control policies 800

Economic adaptation 801

Economics and government 802

Public control in times of national emergency 802

Government regulation 803

Regulation of banking 805

Labor control 806

General regulation of business 806

Appraisal of antitrust legislation 810

Further examples of control 811

State regulation 813

Local regulation 814

The T．V．A． 814

Taxation as a means of control 814

Public opinion and public control 815

Reform 816

Conclusion 817

INDEX 823