Economics for Dummies 2nd Edition (UK Edition)

420 Pages·2011·4.36 MB·English

by  Peter Antonioni

Economic/Business
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UK Edition
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Peter Antonioni is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of ISBN 978-0-470-97325-7 Peter Antonioni
Management, Science and Innovation at University College London. He Senior Teaching Fellow,
has worked in both the academic and private sectors as an economist. University College London
Sean Masaki Flynn, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Economics.
Sean Masaki Flynn, PhD
Antonioni
Flynn Assistant Professor of Economics, Scripps College
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Economics
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2
ND EDITION
by Peter Antonioni and Sean Masaki Flynn
A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication
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Economics For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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ISBN: 978-0-470-97325-7 (paperback), 978-0-470-97369-1 (ebk), 978-0-470-97365-3 (ebk), 978-0-470-97366-0
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About the Authors
Peter Antonioni was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, and Birkbeck
College, London, and has worked in both academic and private sectors as an
economist before fi nally ending up as Lecturer in Management at University
College London.
His research interests are diverse, and include the football transfer market,
the process of enterprise in technology markets, and the techniques and
practice of the arcane fi eld of Long Range Scenario Planning.
His great passions include composing and recording electronic music,
practicing the mystical martial arts of ancient China, and weeping with
uncontrollable dismay at Spurs’ latest setbacks. Amongst his talents are an
uncanny ability to recall every plot point and line of dialogue from Battlestar
Galactica, and the superpower of creating a mean penne arrabiata. He blogs
some of the above at pja.typepad.com.
Sean Masaki Flynn earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of
California, Berkeley, studying under Nobel Prize winners George Akerlof and
Daniel McFadden.
He is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Finance
Association, the Economic Science Association, and the Society for the
Advancement of Behavioral Economics.
His research focuses on the often puzzling and seemingly irrational behavior
of stock market investors, but he’s also investigated topics as wide-ranging
as the factors that affect customer tipping behaviour at restaurants and why
you see a lot of unionised workers only in certain industries. He’s also a lead-
ing expert on closed-end mutual funds.
His great passion is the Japanese martial art of aikido, which he has taught
for over a decade to thousands of students both in the United States and
abroad. If you like the martial arts, you might enjoy reading his book,
Shodokan Aikido: Basics Through 6th Kyu, which gives an insight into both the
mental and physical aspects of aikido.
Finally, he’s gone out of his way to post extensive supplementary material for
this book at www.learn-economics.com. Check it out.
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Dedication
To all the family, friends, and colleagues who did so much to set me on the
true path, and especially to Andrew Scott, who showed an inordinate amount
of faith in me, and Vinetta Archer-Dyer who tirelessly cleared up the mess I
left in my wake.
– Peter Antonioni
To my dad, Thomas Ray Flynn, who always impressed upon me the impor-
tance of good economic policy both for improving our quality of life and as
our last, best hope for lifting billions out of poverty and disease.
– Sean Masaki Flynn
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Many people have left their imprints on me as I’ve traveled through life, and I feel
privileged to have benefi ted from their wisdom and patience along the way.
My parents who impressed on me the return on investment in education.
Paul, who never let me get away with sloppy thinking. Thanks Bro!
Tanya, who taught me how to practise economics as a true art whilst staying
sane.
Tim Hames, for three years of the most inspiring tutorials ever.
All the crew at Birkbeck, and especially Professor Ron Smith who actually
made econometrics make sense.
Bryan Finn and David Merrick for showing me how it all actually works.
John Cubbin, in whose debt I will be forever, for actually getting me to produce
research. Michael Ball for always believing in me, especially when I didn’t.
All my colleagues at UCL, especially Richard Pettinger, who got me into this
gig, Irene Brunskill, Linda Hesselman, Jane Walker, and Jane Burns Nurse.
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All my students at City University and UCL for making a better economist by
making me think about how to actually explain this stuff so it makes sense to
someone else, because you never actually know that you know things until
you try and tell another what you know.
The entire posse, especially the Eggman, the Tenth Emanation, The Church
of Uggy, Cap’n Jules, the Krazza, Noel and Leah, Phil and Sunita, Karen, Alice,
Mao, Merv Dawg, and everyone. Big Up!
Big shout out to Andrew, AJ, and Heather for beating me up regularly!
And thanks to Rachael at Wiley, for patiently dealing with my somewhat
relaxed attitude to deadlines and my totally blockheaded queries.
Very big thanks indeed to Sean Masaki Flynn for an incredibly well-created US
original.
Any omissions are my own fault and if you feel you have been unjustly omit-
ted from the thanks you can demand a pint anytime as recompense. I may
even buy you one.
– Peter Antonioni
I’d like to thank the many great economists who managed to get things into
my head despite my very thick skull.
Among my teachers, I can’t help but thanks Caroline Betts, Tim Cason,
Richard Ciccetti, Michael DePrano, Richard Easterlin, Robert Kalaba, Timur
Kuran, Jeffrey Nugent, and Morton Shapiro for the excellent education I
received as an undergraduate at the University of Southern California.
I was equally blessed at UC Berkeley, where I got to complete a doctorate under
the tutelage of some true intellectual giants including George Akerlof, David
Card, J. Bradford DeLong, Jan deVries, Barry Eichengreen, Richard Gilbert,
Daniel McFadden, Maurey Obstfeld, Matthew Rabin, David Romer, Christina
Romer, and Janet Yellen. It was especially fun when Professors McFadden and
Akerlof won their respective Nobel Prizes during my last two years at Cal.
However, my fellow economics students often did more than my professors
to explain things to me when I wasn’t getting them. And they continue to
educate me even now. So a very heartfelt thank you to Corinne Alexander,
Lorenzo Blanco, Mark Carlson, Carlos Dobkin, Tim Doede, Mike Enriquez,
Fabio Ghironi, Petra Geraats, Aaron Green, Galina Hale, Alan Marco, Carolina
Marquez, Marcelo Moreira, Petra Moser, Marc Muendler, Stefan Palmqvist,
Doug Park, Raj Patel, Steve Puller, Desiree Schaan, Doug Schwalm, Mark
Stehr, Sam Thompson, Carla Tully, Jeff Weinstein, and Marta Wosinska.
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I’ve also got to thank my students here at Vassar College. You’re bright,
diligent, and incredibly hardworking. By asking me so many challenging,
insightful questions, you’ve made me a far better economist.
A big thank you to my literary agent Linda Roghaar and my old friend Mike
Jones for getting me this book deal. They heard Dummies and immediately
thought of me.
The entire production team at Wiley also deserve huge praise. All their edits,
suggestions, and formatting have turned out a book that’s far better than any-
thing I could have come up with on my own.
I also have to deeply thank Dr Robert Harris, whose comments and suggestions
have made the text far better than it would have been otherwise.
Finally, I must thank Melissa Lape. She read my copy and made numerous
suggestions that helped make Economics For Dummies both clear and concise.
If you’ve had the patience to read this far, you’ll also likely have an inclina-
tion to go check out www.learn-economics.com, where I’ve posted lots
of supplementary material to accompany Economics For Dummies. You just
can’t get enough, can you?
– Sean Masaki Flynn
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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