Supply and Demand

Some basic concepts of economic (and financial) literacy, as far as I'm concerned, are supply and demand and price. Today there's a great piece on supply and demand by Russell Roberts at Cafe Hayek.

He points out that many people see the treatment of supply and demand as unrealistic, and he states "it's supposed to be unrealistic." Roberts sees supply and demand as demonstrating a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world and problems of allocation. He also includes a link to a piece he's doing for the Library of Economics and Liberty that provides an explanation without using graphs. It's worth a look, especially if you find that students just don't get the graphs.

Please comment if you use this and let everyone know how well it works for you.
Posted by TSchilling at June 5, 2007 1:26 PM


Comments
I think economics, like mathematics, is a discipline used to analyze and solve daily decision making. Isn't it true that supply and demand answer the questions what will be produced, how, and for whom? As a model, supply and demand seems to predict human behavior...flad

Posted by: mike fladlien at June 5, 2007 9:24 PM


Just when I thought I could begin to taper down the economic reading--you point us in the direction of two excellent resources for next year's classes. The supply demand article by Roberts is a good supplement to any textbook--and as you indicated--for those students whose eyes begin to glass over when the whiteboard fills with graphs. I also clicked on the link "for those of you who want to do more work" (why I don't know--it's one more day till summer break!) This link provides great supplementary reading for the AP Micro class. Both sites are now bookmarked and
will be used. Thanks Tim--I really was going to take a break for at least a week or two. But, when it's good, it must be used!

Posted by: Julie Chismar at June 6, 2007 4:50 PM