The Economic Way of Thinking Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Economic Way Of Thinking

Allysia Jarrett

Group2

Questions for Discussion

2. Adding an urgent vehicle lane would not be effective without there being some sort of stipulation for the lane use. In particularly binding traffic jams, I’ve observed people turn even the land on the side of highways into “lanes” in order to reach their destinations. Clearly this is not permitted, but as people outside of their vehicles, we are only able to observe the circumstances outside of the car. Perhaps these people were experiencing real emergencies, and for this reason the extra emergency lane would make sense to exist. But, if this lane were in place, it would be abused. The use of the lane would have less to do with being selfish as a person and more to do with differing opinions of emergency that would cause the lane to be blocked when it could be needed the most.

4. Economic choice is not always as obvious for an individual as it would be for basic consumer choices. Using the example, it was not the choice of the mother to get a job because it was her previous choices that necessitated the current choice. Without getting to graphic, it was the choice of the mother to have the child, and this caused her to need a job to support the child. In the event that she did not have the choice to have the child, she did have options, such as placing the child up for adoption. Sometimes there are not immediate alternatives for the unintended consequences of our actions we took before.

6. Why are we all in this class? Is it because we would rather be in it than on vacation or even making a career now? No. It is because we are choosing to go to college in order to someday make more money than we would otherwise. This is not because we are greedy necessarily, it is because the way society has progressed, it is almost impossible to make a comfortable living without a college education. Sacrifice does not make sense in the immediate, and this is a concept that would be...