Kleykamp in Taiwan --
" Live Long and Prosper "
" Live Long and Prosper "
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| Guide to Economics Readings and Essays Spring 2012 |
| Friedman's Pencil -- the Text Look at this lead pencil. There’s not a single person in the world who could make this pencil. Remarkable statement? Not at all. The wood from which it is made, for all I know, comes from a tree that was cut down in the state of Washington. To cut down that tree it took a saw. To make the saw took steel. To make the steel it took iron ore. This black center, we call it lead but it’s really graphite -- compressed graphite. I’m not sure where it comes from, but I think it comes from some mines in South America. This red top up here – the eraser – bit of rubber probably comes from Malaysia (Malaya) – where the rubber tree isn’t even native. It was imported from South America by some businessmen with the help of the British government. This brass ferrule -- I haven’t the slightest idea where it came from -- or the yellow paint -- or the paint that made the black lines. Or, the glue that holds it together. Literally thousands of people cooperated to make this pencil. People who don’t speak the same language; who practice different religions; who might hate one another if they ever met. When you go down to the store and buy this pencil you are in effect trading a few minutes of your time for a few seconds of the time of all those thousands of people. What brought them together and induced them to cooperate and make this pencil. It was no commissar sending out orders from some central office. It was the magic of the price system, the impersonal operation of the price system that brought them together and got them to cooperate to make this pencil so that you could have it for a trifling sum. That is why the operation of the free market is so essential, not only to promote productive efficiency, but even more to foster harmony and peace among the peoples of the world. |
Schedule of Readings 1 Introduction to the Class 101/02/13～101/02/19 2 Private Consumption 101/02/20～101/02/26 3 Worksheet for Consumption 101/02/27～101/03/04 Answers 4 Investment 101/03/05～101/03/11 5 Worksheet for Investment 101/03/12～101/03/18 Answers 6 Government Spending 101/03/19～101/03/25 7 Worksheet for Government Spending 101/03/26～101/04/01 8 International Trade 101/04/02～101/04/08 9 Worksheet for International Trade 101/04/09～101/04/15 10 期中考試週101/04/16～101/04/22 11 Wealth 101/04/23～101/04/29 12 Worksheet on Wealth 101/04/30～101/05/06 Answers 13 Capitalism vs. Socialism 101/05/07～ 101/05/13 14 Worksheet on Capitalism vs. Socialism 101/05/14～101/05/20 15 畢業考試週 101/05/21～101/05/28 |