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number of items: 20
total items: 2603
item list element: How to Choose an Online Course or Degree
item list element: The Need to Decolonise Higher Education
item list element: From University Campus to Remote Education: How Steep is the Learning Curve?
item list element: MBA or Specialized Master’s Degree: Which One is Best for You?
item list element: The Top Finance Books for Economists
item list element: How COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for a Green New Deal
item list element: Total Utility
item list element: Net Present Value
item list element: Balancing Work While Starting a Family
item list element: Our Economies Prioritise Male Interests. They Must Be Changed
item list element: The Case for Income Tax Reform in the US and UK
item list element: COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for UBI
item list element: Will China Become the World’s Largest Economic Superpower Because of Coronavirus?
item list element: The Best Books on Environmental Economics
item list element: Perfect Competition
item list element: Price Ceiling
item list element: How COVID-19 Could Change the Role of Government
item list element: Price Discrimination
item list element: Covid-19 and the Seizure of Power
item list element: Edgeworth Box
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How to Choose an Online Course or Degree
type: Article
title: How to Choose an Online Course or Degree
description: What you need to consider You may be asking yourself how to decide which course will you study? Well, first off think about the subjects that you liked in school, about your hobbies, and what may help you in your career development. And remember, an online degree can not just help you brush up skills you gained in the past, but could also provide you with accreditation for what you have learnt through work experience. If you are already focused on economics, as many INOMICS users are, an online course could be an opportunity to study a complementary minor subject such as: sociology, anthropology, finance, business administration of environmental sustainability. Increasingly, higher education is becoming interdisciplinary, and online options are a great way to keep up with this trend. You could merge your economics interest with psychology, perhaps, taking you in a behavioural economics direction. The options are almost endless! Course quality online can, and often is, as good as on campus. With that said, check that the degree programme offers teaching from the same faculty staff and offers the same credentials as with a campus taught degree or course. Investigate the reputation for your prospective institutions. Read user reviews if available, and look out for accreditation for the course and institution. In the same vein, checking that employers recognise the qualification you are about to enrol upon is also a smart move. Subscribe to get updates on online learning options for economists Admission requirements and application fees/course fees/tuition fees will likely be necessary for any degree and course online. Financial aid is sometimes available too. Check these things over thoroughly before signing up. If you shop around you can even find many countries (especially in Europe) offering degrees without fees. Although it sounds simple, ensure that the schedule of the online course fits around your life. It’s pointless signing up for a course which timetables an …
disambiguating description: INOMICS has seen a surge in demand for online courses recently, with far more students searching for higher education alternatives. With the effects of COVID-19 ongoing, and many institutions still closed, enrolling in a fully online program or online degree has clearly become the best way to continue self-improvement and career development. Institutions offer a variety of online degree programmes and massive open online courses (MOOCs), which often have less expensive tuition fees. Additionally, you will save money by not having to commute to a campus. Distance learning can improve your technical skills too, as you navigate new learning management systems. Before you choose a course, though, there are a few things you need to consider. Here INOMICS’ walks you through the basics!
date posted: 2020-06-17T08:23:20Z
date modified: 2026-07-06T13:52:11Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: higher education
keywords: Daniel Hinchey
keywords: online learning
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

The Need to Decolonise Higher Education
type: Article
title: The Need to Decolonise Higher Education
description: Education is complicit Education is one area that could be subject to overhaul. The recent murder in America of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesotan police has sparked demonstrations across the western world, protesting not just police violence, but the system that permits such violence and ensures impunity for its perpetrators. Education, protestors claim (and this writer concurs), is a part of that system, and higher education, in particular, has drawn criticism for its failure to incorporate black and brown histories, focusing instead on white, euro-centric knowledge and methods of knowledge production. These preferences, they further assert, hide the achievements of people of colour, perpetuating hierarchies of colonialism. Ultimately, this omission, and the whitewashing of colonial violence for which it also stands accused, implicates the institution as complicit in the racism that pervades society. As such, if progress is to be made it must be ‘decolonised’. Work underway Of course, work to this end isn’t new. In the last few years, demands to decolonise education, both its curricula and campuses, have cohered into the movements ‘Rhodes Must Fall’, which has called for the removal of statues of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes from campuses, and ‘Why Is My Curriculum White?’, which, as the name suggests, has questioned the primacy of white, European thinkers in university curricula. Both have helped expand conversations about memorialisation in public space and the diversification of education, setting some important precedents. Now, however, as racism is reckoned with on both sides of the Atlantic, movements like these have been galvanised. And the momentum is only growing. <11an>limit:2;categories:jobs|courses|conferences|Professor;disciplines:Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)|Politics</11an> What is being asked? Although decolonising education can, and often does, mean different things, it generally refers to an interrogation of the assumptions that for…
disambiguating description: History, it feels, is quickening pace. Pandemics, both old and new, are rocking the world, shaking its foundations. Systemic racism, an age-old disease, continues to facilitate violence on black bodies and undermine humanity, while a novel coronavirus has killed hundreds of thousands, disproportionately affected people of colour, and compounded the often racial inequalities that characterise our societies. Protestors now fill the streets, and across much of the anglophone world a tipping point has been reached. What will emerge from this moment is hard to say. A better question may be what do we want to emerge? Either way, there can be little doubt, change is afoot - and it’s been a long time coming.
date posted: 2020-06-17T14:16:37Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:46:27Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: BLM
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: racial justice
keywords: decolonising education
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: labordemographiceconomics
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Labor and Demographic Economics (JEL J)
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

From University Campus to Remote Education: How Steep is the Learning Curve?
type: Article
title: From University Campus to Remote Education: How Steep is the Learning Curve?
description: Distance learning is nothing new; it has existed in one form or another ever since people were first able to exchange letters and talk on the telephone. In 1858 the University of London started to offer students the opportunity to study for degrees remotely. With the invention of the record player, radio and television, the possibilities for distance learning expanded but it was not until 1969 that a national government created the first institution of Higher Education to specialise in distance learning, the Open University. With the arrival of home computing and the internet in the mid to late 1990s, online learning began to evolve as a viable means for universities to deliver their degree programmes. Yet despite the increasing ubiquity of the internet in daily life since then, enrolment in online courses has been somewhat muted. As of 2019, only 15% of registered students in the European Union were taking an online course in any subject, versus 10% of all individuals living in the EU (Figure 1). This contrasts with just under half of students who used the internet to access learning materials in 2019 (Figure 2). While the trend in online education was already positive before the coronavirus pandemic, a majority of professors and students in Europe still relied on traditional methods for their teaching and learning. As universities shut down campuses and embraced remote learning in response to the pandemic, existing technologies were quickly harnessed to shift lectures, seminars and assessment online wherever feasible. In principle, from a student perspective, there are many advantages of online learning over the traditional classroom, including increased flexibility in time management and the ability to adjust the pace to suit individual learning. However in practice, the unexpected nature of the switch to online methods has left many students dissatisfied with their instructors’ efforts and this has led to claims for refunds and reductions in tuition fees. Faced …
disambiguating description: Universities around the world are currently experiencing a crash course in online education. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the sector in a big way, leaving professors and students struggling to complete the academic year off campus and having to prepare for the next one under very uncertain circumstances. Although online learning has been around for at least two decades, adapting all courses to remote forms of education is proving a steep learning curve for most institutions. Applying a basic economic principle and considering some of the evidence on online versus traditional teaching methods can help to assess the likely effects of recent campus closures on student learning outcomes and to see how course provision and programme design may develop in the longer term.
date posted: 2020-06-08T12:44:56Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:47:57Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: COVID-19
keywords: economics
keywords: pandemic
keywords: Tom McKenzie
keywords: online learning
type: blog
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

MBA or Specialized Master’s Degree: Which One is Best for You?
type: Article
title: MBA or Specialized Master’s Degree: Which One is Best for You?
description: There are several key differences between an MBA and M.S. degree. The one you choose depends on your career goals, experience, finances and more. Focus MBA programs are more all-encompassing. They are meant for students looking to gain functional knowledge across all aspects of business. A specialized master’s program is exactly that — it focuses on a specific area of business and provides a deep and precise knowledge of that subject. Program The programs can differ in length and requirements. MBA students often enter business school after a few years of experience in the workforce. They’re looking to take their career to the next level, and will have to spend an average of two years to earn their business degree. M.S. programs can be shorter, sometimes just one year, and usually accept students with little work experience. M.S. programs provide an accelerated way to gain the depth of knowledge required to secure a position within the specialization. Cost An MBA can cost more to attain, but it can also provide a higher ROI. Companies will pay top dollar for an experienced professional who carries a broad range of business knowledge — base salaries can be more than $60,000 higher for MBA graduates at some consulting firms, for example. While a specialized master’s program also provides great returns, it is often a more affordable route to career success. How do I decide? If your career track requires an overall business knowledge, you’ll want an MBA. If you are certain of your job interest and would like to become an expert in that particular field, a specialized degree could be your best bet. Ultimately, it’s about envisioning where you see your career path leading and which route will provide the best boost to get you there. Talk to schools, do your research, be true to yourself and know your future is full of potential either way. Admissions Tests It is likely that the programs and/or schools you are considering require an admissions test as part of your overall a…
disambiguating description: When you think business school, you probably think MBA. A Master’s of Business Administration has long been a coveted — and often essential — qualification for business professionals. In recent years, however, the tide has begun to quietly shift, with more business school students than ever pursuing master’s degrees in specialized fields such as accounting, economics and business analytics.
date posted: 2020-05-18T11:59:34Z
date modified: 2026-07-06T13:53:05Z
language: en
keywords: economics
keywords: business
keywords: GRE
keywords: MBA
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: business
disciplines: generaleconomics
disciplines: businesseconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)

The Top Finance Books for Economists
type: Article
title: The Top Finance Books for Economists
description: INOMICS and our parent company 11 Academia Networks are Amazon Associates, meaning we are a part of their affiliate program. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn money through any qualifying purchases made after you click through. However, this is not a sponsored post. 1. The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness - Dave Ramsey One of the biggest names in personal finance advice, Dave Ramsey, gives tips on money management for the public in this book. With a focus on paying off debt using the “snowball method”, the advice here is suited to someone who is new to finance and trying to dig themselves out of debt. 2. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy - Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko This compilation of research into self-made millionaires in the US describes the attitudes, strategies, and habits that they have around money and finance. The authors boil down the various perspectives to a few key points, like the essential advice to spend less than you earn. This book will suit those who enjoy a dose of narrative along with their finance advice. 3. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis This work chronicles the build up to the housing crisis in the US during the 2000s, examining how the housing bubble grew and what causes it to burst. An accessible and exciting read, this book shows how topics in finance can be presented to a general audience in an engaging way, and how financial decisions can have a large impact on a society. 4. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Covering statistics, economics, and philosophy as well as finance, this book examines how rare and unpredictable events can have an outsized effect on the way that we think and make decisions. It tackles the issue of investment and risk, looking at the difficulties inherent in trying to predict outcomes in highly complex systems. 5. I Will Teach You to be Rich - R…
disambiguating description: Starting out in a finance degree? Stuck at home during lockdown and want to remain safe while improving your financial knowledge? Simply interested in the topic? INOMICS is here to help. If you're looking for the most-talked-about books in the field, or planning on getting some interdisciplinary knowledge, check out our list of the top books in finance.
date posted: 2016-12-15T15:00:18Z
date modified: 2026-07-06T13:54:23Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Finance
keywords: Financial
keywords: bestselling author
keywords: Books
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: finance
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Finance

How COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for a Green New Deal
type: Article
title: How COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for a Green New Deal
description: Securing today, and tomorrow If the earth is to continue sustaining human life there is only one answer, that, to the scientists at least, is clear: a Green New Deal (GND) and the end of extractivist-based growth. Increasing numbers of economists agree, recognising that a holistic, interventionist approach - like the GND represents - is needed to reanimate economies and address inequality and unemployment, which, while pre-dating COVID-19, have been grossly exacerbated by the disease. Indeed, much that the GND promises - a basic income, job guarantee, to say nothing of climate security - has been made more pressing since the pandemic struck. The Green New Deal for Europe, has outlined its implementation as comprising a program of relief, recovery and reform. Relief in the form of a basic income and job guarantee for those out of work or adversely affected by extreme weather events; an economic recovery that swiftly transitions from fossil fuels, invests in green infrastructure, and creates jobs where they are most needed; and reform, like the introduction of a Genuine Progress Indicator, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and guarantee humanity’s future. In all, it’s a complete overhaul of the economy, change on a scale we've rarely, if ever, seen outside of wartime. The aims are so sweeping, leaving so little of society untouched, they can be hard to envisage - and perhaps for that reason, that at once it’s both so abstract and expensive, that it’s sometimes struggled to gain traction. Taking advantage of this, its detractors have mocked its ‘bankrupting’ expense and the ‘undue’ faith it places in government intervention. In view of recent events, however, these criticisms are beginning to look weaker. <11an>limit:2;categories:jobs|courses|conferences;countries:France|United Kingdom|Italy|Spain|Switzerland|Denmark|Ireland;disciplines:Agricultural And Environmental Economics (JEL Q)</11an> Changing perceptions ‘It costs too much’ its critics chorus. And wit…
disambiguating description: In the midst of the destruction it’s wrought, the lives and livelihoods it’s taken, and freedom it’s limited, COVID-19 has given us one thing that may yet prove positive - the opportunity to reflect. Under lockdown, we’ve been compelled to consider our pre-COVID lives, the aspects we valued, the parts we endured, and how things could be changed. Separation from reality has renewed our perspective. And it’s come at a convenient time, for a choice hangs in the air. With swathes of the economy on life-support, and recession hitting, we have the opportunity to choose which areas we preserve, and which we let perish. Ultimately, we must decide on which values our future economies are built. As climate catastrophe looms large, the stakes could not be higher.
date posted: 2020-06-03T08:33:39Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:51:28Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: COVID-19
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: Green New Deal
keywords: coronavirus
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: agriculturalenvironmentaleconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Agricultural and Environmental Economics (JEL Q)

Total Utility
type: CreativeWork
title: Total Utility
description: Utility is an important concept in economics, because neoclassical economic theory is based on the premise that rational individuals maximize their utility. This implies that all (economic) decisions and interactions can be analyzed by studying the utility maximization problem of the people involved. This is usually described by a utility function, i.e., a mathematical function that assigns a value to the level of happiness an individual experiences when consuming a certain bundle of goods and services. This function represents the preferences of a consumer over a set of alternatives. Commonly, we assume that utility can be measured in monetary units, meaning that it is a cardinal concept for us. The total utility of consuming a good is equivalent to the amount of money that would give the consumer the same level of happiness. For example, the level of happiness or satisfaction you obtain from eating a chocolate bar can be measured by the amount of money that would give you the same level of happiness. Cardinal utility means that the number we associate with the utility of the consumption of a good has a meaning and we can use it for comparisons. For example, if the consumption of 1 chocolate bar gives me a total utility of 1 and the consumption of 1 piece of cake gives me a total utility of 2, then we can conclude that not only do I prefer cake to a chocolate bar, but I like cake twice as much as a chocolate bar. A related concept is ordinal utility- see the Further Reading section below for a description. <11an>limit:3;categories:Master's Programs;disciplines:Economics</11an> When studying economics, you cannot get around the term marginal utility, which describes the increase in happiness or well-being from consuming one additional unit. The difference between marginal and total utility is that the first term only measures the change in happiness gained from the last unit. The latter term meanwhile refers to the overall level of happiness or well-being derived fr…
disambiguating description: Total utility refers to the overall level of happiness or satisfaction that a consumer experiences by consuming a certain amount of a good or service. While marginal utility measures the change in utility from consuming one additional unit, total utility measures the level of happiness associated with the consumption of a certain quantity of the good.
date posted: 2020-06-08T08:31:51Z
date modified: 2023-03-02T19:26:15Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: diminishing marginal utility
keywords: preferences
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
keywords: utility
keywords: Total Utility
keywords: marginal utility
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
disciplines: economicthoughtmethodology
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)
discipline labels: Economic Thought & Methodology (JEL B)

Net Present Value
type: CreativeWork
title: Net Present Value
description: Many decisions that we take will not only have immediate (financial) consequences, but will also lead to future expenses or revenues. For example, if you take out a loan or a mortgage you receive a one-time payment today from your bank and in return you will have to pay back the loan plus interest in monthly installments. An insurance company will receive monthly contributions from their clients but has to pay in case of an accident. If a taxi driver buys a new car, he or she will have pay for the car today but receive a monthly income in the future by using the car to transport clients. Whenever decisions lead to future streams of payments, the NPV can be used as an instrument or measure to help decide whether or not to invest in a certain project or which of several alternatives should be chosen. That is, when the bank decides whether to grant a loan they will need to compare the value of the loan that you receive today, to the sum of monthly instalments it will receive to take this decision. To do so the bank has to determine today´s value of future payments. This is also often referred to as the time value of money. The NPV is a rather simple formula that allows us to compare future expenses or revenues to current expenses and revenues. Consequently, companies that have to choose between several projects they may invest in can use the NPV to determine if an investment is potentially profitable or not and which of several alternatives is the best one. The net present value of a stream of payments is defined as \[NPV = \sum_{t=0}^{T} \frac{R_{t}}{(1+i)^{t}},\] where \(T\) is the total number of payments, \(i\) denotes the interest rate and \(R_{t}\) is the payment at time \(t\). Let us look at an example to understand how this formula can be applied. Suppose a firm is considering to invest into a new technology which would require an initial payment \(R_{0}\) of \(30,000\). This technology is assumed to increase sales and generate a yearly extra revenue equal to \…
disambiguating description: The net present value (NPV) is used in finance and economics to describe or measure today´s value of a stream of future payoffs or payments.
date posted: 2020-06-03T10:04:20Z
date modified: 2022-05-16T10:54:02Z
language: en
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
keywords: Net Present Value
type: terms
disciplines: economics
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: finance
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Finance

Balancing Work While Starting a Family
type: Article
title: Balancing Work While Starting a Family
description: You may also have a steady partner, or are thinking about settling down in the next few years, which opens the possibility of starting a family, if you haven’t already. The game is about to change. Whether you are already working or are applying for a job, you have some new things to think about and multiple, often contradictory priorities to balance (welcome to parenthood). For the sake of simplicity, let’s break this down to: parental leave; childcare; working time; employer/employee relationship; finances; and stress-levels. Apart from the stress, the rest is to some extent directly affected by where you live and the laws/benefits available, where you work or are applying to work, and the conditions and attitude of your (future) employer. The stress, in turn, influences and is influenced by the others. Sound complicated? It is a bit, but you’ll get there. Most parents do. Here’s a rough guide. Looking for a job? Check out our job listings Parental Leave Start thinking about how long you and your partner anticipate taking off work, because your childcare plan, and following that your work/career plan, will invariably be based around this decision. You’ll need to familiarise yourselves with your rights as an employee, which vary considerably from country to country, or in the case of federations like the US from state to state. In most countries maternity leave is considerably more generous than paternity leave, but check national guidelines for where you live. Typically there is a distinction between parental leave and parental benefits. You may be entitled to take several years off, while retaining your job, but any income from the state is normally somewhat less than your normal salary, and for a limited number of months only. Most people receive their parental benefit at the same time as taking their parental leave, to cover the drop in income. But this doesn’t always have to be the case, and there can even be benefits, for example in tax savings, by decoupling…
disambiguating description: You are educated, qualified and consider yourself reasonably intelligent. You have handed in countless papers, proposals, and at least one thesis. You probably have some experience under your belt, maybe already landed a pretty good job with good prospects. You are confident of your ability, ready to work evenings and weekends, and keen to impress.
date posted: 2020-05-27T10:27:55Z
date modified: 2026-07-06T13:56:35Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: parenting advice
keywords: work
keywords: working
keywords: family
keywords: parenting
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: business
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Our Economies Prioritise Male Interests. They Must Be Changed
type: Article
title: Our Economies Prioritise Male Interests. They Must Be Changed
description: Many operate at the highest levels of governance, where economists comprise an integral cog within the policy-making machine. From this lofty position, their male experience, along with that of their political counterparts, permeates the legislative process, and consequently, male interests - intentionally or otherwise - are formally prioritised and coded into the law. For despite claims to the contrary, no economic decision can be gender neutral; the diverging roles men and women play in the economy make it impossible. And herein lies the problem: fair economic policy is predicated on recognition of this fact. Disappointingly, few policymakers seem capable of doing this, and more disturbingly, some actually seem unwilling. As a result, discriminatory economic policy continues to be passed. Whether tax breaks that benefit rich, property-owning men, or public service cuts that encumber single mothers, the pattern of prejudice is clear: when it comes to the economy, women tend to lose. The sexism of austerity Austerity politics, implemented across much of Europe following the Great Recession of 2008, embodied this bias in its most brazen and destructive form. Borrowing from the same phrasebook, governments justified its rolling out using cynically collective language. ‘Everybody must live within their means’, they implored, warning that ‘the pinch would be felt by all’. These attempts to engender a sense of national unity, an all-in-it-together camaraderie, masked the grim reality that women would shoulder most of the financial burden. Irish reduction of child benefits; Portuguese slashing of family allowance; Montenegrin cuts to family assistance - they would do so everywhere. <11an>limit:2;categories:jobs;disciplines:Economic Thought & Methodology (JEL B)|Labor and Demographic Economics (JEL J)</11an> In the UK, where austerity was rigorously imposed, the House of Commons Library found that 86% of the financial burden between 2010-2017 fell on women, and cuts were e…
disambiguating description: In the collective consciousness, the economist exists as a middle-aged man, bespectacled and clad in a suit, whose unhealthy pallor betrays a hermit-like lifestyle led in the confines of a library. Of course, this image isn’t a particularly fair reflection of the discipline, or its practitioners. Some, for instance, will be aware that in the last few years a number of economists have experimented with contact lenses. Nevertheless, the stereotype remains instructive: the large majority of economists are men, and given the positions they hold, and influence they exert, such homogeneity is a cause for concern.
date posted: 2020-05-26T12:02:01Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:53:50Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: gender
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: austerity
keywords: sexism
keywords: economy
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: labordemographiceconomics
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Labor and Demographic Economics (JEL J)
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)

The Case for Income Tax Reform in the US and UK
type: Article
title: The Case for Income Tax Reform in the US and UK
description: Always one of the key issues between left and right, the debate over higher tax rates has again seen some action over the last few years in both the UK and the US. The Labour Party in the United Kingdom proposed in 2017 a 50% tax rate for those earning over £123,000 and a 45% for those earning over £80,000, with the plan that the top 5% of earners pay a little more to fund the country and relieve the burden on the poor. Currently there are four brackets in the UK, including one for personal allowance. From £12,501 to £50,000 you pay 20%, from £50,001 to £150,000 you’ll pay 40%, and anything above that 45%. Their relatively moderate proposals resulted in a barrage of arguments for and against. And the issue blew up in America at the beginning of 2019, too, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that a 70% income tax rate on incomes over $10 million rate might not be too bad an idea. As might be expected, conservative politicians pushed back hard against the idea, Rep. Steve Scalise, for example, tweeting that the Democrats would ‘take away 70% of your income and give it to leftist fantasy programs’. Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, compared it to slavery, tweeting ‘Slavery is when your owner takes 100% of your production... Ocasio-Cortez wants 70%... What is the word for 70% expropriation?’ <11an>limit:2;categories:jobs|courses|conferences;countries:Italy|United Kingdom|United States;disciplines:Financial Economics (JEL G)</11an> On the surface these tweets show either a total misunderstanding, or worse, a deliberate misrepresentation, of how marginal taxation works. Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed tax, for example, would only tax 70% on every dollar a person earns over $10 million, which is not exactly the majority of Americans. And less than four percent of Britons earn over £100,000, meaning very few would be liable for Labour’s proposed tax bracket increase. This is how progressive tax brackets work: you pay more tax only on money earned that falls wi…
disambiguating description: Whether someone believes in higher rates of tax or not can tell you a lot about their political views. As a general rule, conservative politicians - at least since the 80s - have favoured fewer tax brackets and relatively lower rates of tax. The argument goes that this encourages people to work harder because they keep more of their money, which means more money remains in the economy; eventually it will trickle down to those not so rich. On the other end of the spectrum, more left-wing politicians argue that higher taxes on top earners are an effective way of raising government revenue for public services which help out those who need support, and that a few more dollars or pounds taken off of someone who earns astronomical sums already is a drop in the ocean.
date posted: 2020-05-19T07:49:54Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:57:55Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: James Matthew Alston
keywords: United States
keywords: United Kingdom
keywords: tax
keywords: economy
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: macroeconomicsmonetary
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics (JEL E)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for UBI
type: Article
title: COVID-19 Strengthens the Case for UBI
description: It’s not enough However, despite such pledges, the panoply of bailouts, furlough schemes, and loans are failing to reach all those in need. It’s a familiar story: the effects of the crisis are driving a wedge into societies’ already pronounced divisions, entrenching and exacerbating them - they will soon be untenable. In the US, it’s ‘women, particularly women of color, communities of color, and impoverished Americans…[that] are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn’, according to data from Vox. In spite of the largest relief package in history, the so-called ‘left-behind’ are being cut further adrift. Research from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) makes for similarly depressing reading. They have estimated that the ‘lost labour income [as a result of the virus] will result in an increase in relative poverty for informal workers and their families… of almost 52 [percentage] points in high-income countries and 56 points in lower and low-income countries’, confirming the unequal distribution of the economic fallout. Over 2 billion people work informally worldwide and if they, and other vulnerable demographics, are to be protected, more is needed, more invention is due. Without additional support, societies will destabilise, leading to, as Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General, has warned, ‘a heightened risk of societal conflict’. Introducing UBI ‘This may be time for a universal basic wage’, contemplated Pope Francis in his Easter Address in April, observing the economic destruction around him. And the Pontiff may be right. No longer fringe, the case for UBI is as strong as it’s been, its popularity soaring. A 2018 poll of 28 European countries showed that 68% of Europeans are in favour of direct no-strings-attached cash payments to citizens. Since coronavirus has cruelly exposed the precarity that underpins so many people’s lives, the harsh hand-to-mouth reality, one would now expect that figure to be even higher. And this really is UBI’s gr…
disambiguating description: Necessity is the mother of invention, so the old proverb goes. And with coronavirus spreading through countries, deep economic recession clambering at its coattails, the collective need has rarely been higher. In just four months, almost 300,000 lives have been taken worldwide, and lockdown, in its various forms, is threatening untold livelihoods - as of May 9th, 33 million jobs have been lost in the US alone. True to the saying, some invention has been forthcoming as incumbents have scrambled to protect their citizens and economies. The UK’s Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, for instance, has shown great ideological flexibility, committing to stimulus packages so large they’d make the most ardent of socialists blush. And similar developments can be seen across the world.
date posted: 2020-05-14T13:52:39Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T09:59:07Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: coronavirus
keywords: covid-19
keywords: universal basic income
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: macroeconomicsmonetary
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics (JEL E)
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)

Will China Become the World’s Largest Economic Superpower Because of Coronavirus?
type: Article
title: Will China Become the World’s Largest Economic Superpower Because of Coronavirus?
description: China’s bid to become the world’s economic superpower has been a long time coming. Following the economic stagnation and isolationism of Chairman Mao’s leadership fifty years ago, China has developed a sophisticated high-tech economy that is the envy of many in the Western world. A key part of this was a massive infrastructure drive: China owns more high-speed rail than the rest of the world put together, and has the busiest, largest ports and container storages on the planet. Middle-class growth is also tangible with home ownership on the rise, and in recent years, statistics from McKinsey show that Chinese tourists were the world’s highest spenders per single trip. Concerning the virus’ impact on the global economy, what is certainly not lacking from commentary is the price fluctuations of oil, decreased agricultural output, decreasing exports, and unemployment figures. From this, one may well form the opinion that the coronavirus pandemic has also negatively affected China’s prospects of taking pole position in the economic race. In reality we may be on the cusp of a reordering of economic superpowers. Despite China supposedly losing the recent trade wars against the US, the COVID-19 pandemic could be the final big push that catapults the Chinese economy ahead in the world order. Click here to browse our economics job listings Chinese economy recovers ahead of other countries The economic ramifications of lockdown are clear even to the layman. Fiscal packages and bailouts have been the most common ways Western countries have responded to the crisis, while, China’s strict reaction to the pandemic, which has succeeded in controlling the spread of the virus, lies in its ability to firmly curtail people’s freedoms and, as a result, the economy. Its centralised government has a capacity that extends beyond most western democracies, enabling it to act swiftly and enforce measures well. It has capitalised on both. Since March, 33 million people have lost their jobs in A…
disambiguating description: The ascension of the Chinese economy to global preeminence is not without precedent. China was, after all, one of the largest economies in the world from the Song Dynasty (c.900 CE) until the 19th century’s ‘Great Divergence’, when European industrialisation facilitated the long period of Western economic dominance that generations alive today know all too well.
date posted: 2020-05-12T13:01:40Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:00:08Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: COVID-19
keywords: China
keywords: America
keywords: geopolitics
keywords: coronavirus
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: internationaleconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: economicdevelopmentgrowth
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: International Economics (JEL F)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Economic Development, Innovation and Growth (JEL O)

The Best Books on Environmental Economics
type: Article
title: The Best Books on Environmental Economics
description: However, the problem is far from solved, and how to balance the economy with climate change policies is a question that still awaits an answer. At the very least, most people currently have a lot of time to read; and what better issue to read about than the most pressing of our time? INOMICS is an Amazon Associate, meaning we are a part of their affiliate program. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn money through any qualifying purchases made after you click through. However, this is not a sponsored post. 1. Stephen Smith - Environmental Economics: A Very Short Introduction Another in the excellent bite-size series from Oxford University Press, this edition focuses on giving a brief overview of the field and asking some important questions to get you thinking about the topic. Designed (as the title suggests) as an introduction into the topic, Smith outlines pollution control, environmental damage and its reduction, and global climate change policies, giving some answers as to how governments should balance their economic duties with the responsibility to protect the environment. Including questions like whether the economic costs of controlling environmental damage are viable, whether some environmental damages are necessary and even desired, and how we can assess the impact environmental damage has on humans, this book offers a great (and very short) springboard into the topic of environmental economics. 2. Frank Ackerman and Lisa Heinzerling - Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing Can you assign a monetary value to things like the environment and health? Many economists have tried to do this and, while it sounds rather cold and calculated, it’s often how governments decide what’s important to them. The problem is, our moral compasses are often ignored when numbers are the way we try and solve the problems we face. In Priceless, Ackerman and Heinzerling argue that the cost-benefit analysis which defines ho…
disambiguating description: In our current state of isolation, it’s important not to forget about some of the other issues which still beset the human race, not least climate change. Due to the fact that so fewer people are travelling both around the world and domestically each day, the levels of greenhouse gases being emitted are far lower than they have been in recent years.
date posted: 2020-05-06T10:30:40Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:01:43Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: James Matthew Alston
keywords: books
keywords: economics books
keywords: environmental economics
type: blog
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: agriculturalenvironmentaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Agricultural and Environmental Economics (JEL Q)

Perfect Competition
type: CreativeWork
title: Perfect Competition
description: A market is said to be perfectly competitive if (among some other conditions) the following assumptions are satisfied: Homogeneous good The good which is being traded in a perfectly competitive market is a homogeneous good. This means that all units of the good are identical from the perspective of the consumers independently of who sells the good and where. In other words, consumers do not care from whom they buy the good. The goods sold by two competing sellers are the same in the eyes of the consumers. This has the important implication that consumers will always buy the good from the seller offering the good at a lower price. Examples of homogeneous goods may include gasoline or bottled drinking water. Many buyers and sellers Another requirement for competition to be perfect is the number of sellers and buyers in the market. In a perfectly competitive market, there are many sellers interested in selling the (homogeneous) good and many buyers interested in buying the good. Price-taking In a perfectly competitive market both buyers and sellers are price-takers. No individual seller or buyer can influence the price at which the good is being traded. Let us have closer look at why this is true: Suppose all sellers sell the good at the same price (the market price), e.g. suppose all gasoline stations sell 1 liter of gasoline for €1. What will happen to a seller who charges a higher price, say €1.1? In a perfectly competitive market he or she will not sell anything. If consumers can choose to fuel their car at €1 per liter or at €1.1 per liter, naturally everyone will go to the cheaper gasoline station. As long as there are enough sellers to satisfy the entire market demand, a single seller who unilaterally decides to charge a higher price will not be able to sell anything. A similar reasoning applies to individual buyers, who are not willing to pay the market price and ask for a lower price. In a perfectly competitive market, a buyer can decide whether he or she want…
disambiguating description: Perfect competition describes a market structure in which many sellers and buyers exchange a homogeneous good and no individual can influence the market price, i.e., buyers and sellers are price takers. In a perfectly competitive market total welfare (that is, the sum of consumer and producer surplus) is maximal. As there is no deadweight loss, the equilibrium allocation in perfect competition usually serves as a benchmark to measure the welfare loss associated with market structures that are not perfectly competitive (e.g. because one side of the market has market power).
date posted: 2020-05-11T14:14:53Z
date modified: 2023-07-31T18:57:02Z
language: en
keywords: Perfect Competition
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: businesseconomics
disciplines: industrialorganization
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)
discipline labels: Industrial Organization (JEL L)

Price Ceiling
type: CreativeWork
title: Price Ceiling
description: It is an instrument of market regulation that governments may use to ensure that firms do not abuse their market power by charging consumers excessively high prices. Particularly for goods that are considered a necessity (such as utilities like water and electricity) the government may establish price ceilings to protect consumers. In cases like water and electricity, society may not be efficiently served if these utilities were left to a competitive market, so price controls can help. Price ceilings are also sometimes used temporarily in exceptional situations such as during times of war or famine. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic some countries established price ceilings for hand sanitizer after observing extreme increases in the price for this product. What is the impact of a price ceiling on consumers and producers? Let us consider a perfectly competitive market where market demand is given by \(q_{D}=10-p\) and market supply is \(q_{S}=2p-2\). The market price in this unregulated market is equal to 4. Now suppose that the government fixes a price ceiling at \(\bar{p}<4\). As this price is lower than the market price, some customers who were not able to buy at the market price would now likely buy the good. The quantity demanded increases to 8. The quantity supplied, on the other hand, decreases, because at a price of 2 it is less profitable to sell the good. Quantity supplied decreases to 2 units. As the quantity demanded now exceeds the quantity supplied, there is excess demand. This scenario is illustrated in the figure below. In the case of a price ceiling below the market's equilibrium price, producer surplus decreases (in the figure: the triangle described by the area below \(\bar{p}\) and above the supply curve). Consumer surplus may increase or decrease depending on the demand function and the height of the price ceiling. Total welfare decreases, due to the decrease in the quantity exchanged. The shaded orange area is the deadweight loss that ca…
disambiguating description: A price ceiling, also called price cap, is the maximum price that a seller is allowed to charge for a particular good or service by law.
date posted: 2020-05-05T09:53:35Z
date modified: 2026-06-29T10:21:07Z
language: en
keywords: price ceiling
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
type: terms
disciplines: politics
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: laweconomics
disciplines: businesseconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Law and Economics (JEL K)
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)

How COVID-19 Could Change the Role of Government
type: Article
title: How COVID-19 Could Change the Role of Government
description: Countries have implemented ‘war-like’ economic measures, requested ‘war-like’ solidarity, and Emmanuel Macron has even declared France ‘at war’. Its rallying qualities aside, the analogy touches on something salient: wars change the role of government, sometimes, in the case of the post-war consensus, radically. COVID-19 could do the same. Responses to the pandemic have shown that nothing is permanent about the current distribution of resources. To the contrary, things can be overhauled, and fast. Just turn on the news: state power is serially showcased, and it’s changing the way we perceive government. With the extent of its capacity laid bare, what can we expect - or even demand - of the governments of tomorrow? Governments prove their might The remarkable has become the routine. Across the world, legislation previously dismissed as profligate, pie-in-the-sky politics is being rolled out, unopposed, often at record speed. In one preventative measure, the city of London effectively ended rough sleeping by providing hotel rooms for the next 12 weeks to all those in need. When unveiling the initiative, London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, magnanimously explained ‘rough sleepers already face difficult and uncertain lives and I'm determined to do all I can to ensure they, along with all Londoners, are given the best protection possible.’ While the intervention itself is a good one, one may have doubts about Khan’s framing. Where exactly was the ‘best protection’ before? The number of those sleeping on the streets in the capital has quadrupled in the last ten years, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that in 2019, 726 people died without shelter (a rise on the previous year) in England and Wales, a fifth of them in London. A month ago, the issue was too expensive to solve. Today, the problem doesn’t exist. The resources were found and distributed accordingly. In 12 weeks time, if containment is achieved, will those same resources be withdrawn? A common retort is…
disambiguating description: As COVID-19 has spread globally, access to the outside world has shrunk, made increasingly off-limits by government lock-down, observable now only through glass. Our digital lives have expanded to fill the void, evenings previously spent with friends now passed plugged into laptops, obsessing over the latest figures, bailouts and newly-imposed restrictions - time blurs. Amid the chorus of leaders justifying ever more draconian measures, one thing has been hard to miss: the invocations of war.
date posted: 2020-04-27T12:23:14Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:03:56Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: COVID-19
keywords: economics
keywords: government
keywords: William Pearse
type: blog
disciplines: economichistory
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Economic History (JEL N)
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Price Discrimination
type: CreativeWork
title: Price Discrimination
description: If and how a firm can successfully price discriminate depends crucially on the information that the firm has about its customers and on the possibilities of the consumers to engage in arbitrage. Note that it is not price discrimination if price differences reflect differences in the costs of serving those consumers. Price discrimination is usually studied in a monopoly, though oligopolies and even regular markets often exhibit price discrimination as well. We distinguish between three different types of price discrimination: First degree price discrimination First degree price discrimination is also called perfect price discrimination. From the perspective of the firm this type of price discrimination yields the highest possible profit. To perform first degree price discrimination the monopolist needs to know the exact willingness-to-pay or demand function of each of its consumers and it has to be able to perfectly distinguish the customers from each other (i.e. no customer can lie about his true willingness-to-pay). If these conditions are true, the monopolist can charge each consumer exactly their maximum willingness-to-pay for the good. Remember from the demand curve that each consumer has a different willingness to pay, or preference, for goods. Clearly, if the monopolist charges every consumer their exact willingness-to-pay, individual consumers will be worse off than without price discrimination because consumer surplus in this case is zero. That is, by perfectly price discriminating, the monopolist captures the entire surplus. But, this is still a Pareto efficient outcome even though consumers are worse off individually. The quantity exchanged will be the same as in perfect competition which means that there is no efficiency loss or deadweight loss if a monopolist can perfectly price discriminate. Certain consumers end up paying more than they would have under perfect competition, and the surplus they would have enjoyed goes to the monopolist instead. But, to…
disambiguating description: Price discrimination is a pricing strategy in which firms charge different prices for the same physical good or service to different consumers or to the same consumer. By doing so, firms can increase their profits compared to selling each unit of the good at the same price.
date posted: 2020-04-28T11:32:52Z
date modified: 2023-04-05T14:51:34Z
language: en
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
keywords: Price Discrimination
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: laweconomics
disciplines: businesseconomics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Law and Economics (JEL K)
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)

Covid-19 and the Seizure of Power
type: Article
title: Covid-19 and the Seizure of Power
description: But are we too generous with our trust? Recent developments in places as far-flung as Hungary and the Philippines remind us that there’s a second history, running parallel to improving approval ratings, of governments using crises to enhance and consolidate their power. It’s a darker history, and one we would do well learning from. Alas, there are concerning signs it’s set to repeat itself. Tailored to tyrants In many ways, the current moment is primed for exploitation. If health systems are to withstand COVID-19, it’s essential that strict restrictions are placed on public life, civil liberties reduced, and, to enforce it all, state power extended. In concert, this is music to the authoritarian’s ear; a description of an idealised society. It's a world in which power-grabs can be carried out publicly, legitimised by rousing cries of unity, and all anxious voices comforted by the knowledge that everything is in the ‘national interest’. It's, above all, an opportunity. Indeed, short of war, no other emergency comes close to matching the ubiquity of COVID-19’s fallout. Consider, for example, terrorism. Terrorist attacks can scar populations and cause great economic damage, but in scale, they pale in comparison. They tend only to hit a contained area which limits the economic impact, and, despite being designed to scare, the panic created is also less widespread. A pandemic, on the other hand, knows no boundaries, equalising the terror and economic damage it wreaks, the village dweller suffering in similar ways to the city-based socialite. And this is key: while fearing for health or financial well-being, people are at their most compliant, their most likely to surrender their freedom. What further sets COVID-19 apart is that the consensus response is to stay indoors. In other emergencies - during war, after a natural disaster, or following a terrorist attack - agency can be claimed by citizens, armies can be joined, humanitarian aid contributed, or marches defiantly a…
disambiguating description: As the world is ravaged by COVID-19, governments everywhere are enjoying burgeoning support. A glance at approval ratings finds presidents, prime ministers, even autocrats, overwhelmingly popular, in some instances irrespective of their actual performance. Of course, this is unsurprising: there’s long been a history of populations coalescing around established leaders in times of crisis. Amid uncertainty, we find their increased visibility reassuring. Speaking to the nation they look competent and confident; we feel inclined to trust them, and more often than not, we do.
date posted: 2020-04-20T13:04:58Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:05:02Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: government
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: coronavirus
keywords: covid-19
type: blog
disciplines: politics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: economicdevelopmentgrowth
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
discipline labels: Politics
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Economic Development, Innovation and Growth (JEL O)
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)

Edgeworth Box
type: CreativeWork
title: Edgeworth Box
description: The advantage of depicting an economy in this way is to allow comparisons of different allocations and to determine their relative efficiency. Consider the following example of an economy with two individuals, Adam and Eve, and two items, dates and milk. The total number of dates in the economy is represented by the horizontal length of the box; the total amount of milk is measured by its vertical length. In the bottom-left corner \(o\), Adam has nothing while Eve owns/consumes all of the dates and milk. In the opposite top-right corner \(o'\), Adam possesses everything in the economy while Eve has nothing. The indifference curves \(A_{1}\), \(A_{2}\) and \(A_{3}\) represent Adam’s preferences over dates and milk, with higher utility on \(A_{3}\) than \(A_{1}\); analogously, indifference curves \(E_{1}\), \(E_{2}\) and \(E_{3}\) represent Eve’s preferences over dates and milk, with higher utility on \(E_{3}\) than \(E_{1}\). Figure 1: Edgeworth Box example The points \(X_{1}\), \(X_{2}\) and \(X_{3}\) show three different allocations of dates and milk between Adam and Eve. At \(X_{1}\) Adam is on his indifference curve \(A_{1}\) while Eve is on her indifference curve \(E_{3}\). However this allocation is not Pareto-efficient because both Adam and Eve could be made better off (achieve higher utility) with another allocation anywhere within the grey shaded area bounded by indifference curves \(A_{1}\) and \(E_{3}\). In contrast, the allocation at \(X_{3}\) where indifference curves \(A_{3}\) and \(E_{1}\) touch tangentially is Pareto-efficient because neither Adam nor Eve can achieve higher utility through a different allocation without reducing the other’s utility. Note however that at \(X_{3}\) Adam has significantly more dates and milk than Eve while the converse is true at \(X_{1}\). The fact that \(X_{3}\) is an efficient allocation says nothing about its fairness. Indeed, a point closer to the middle of the Edgeworth box, such as the allocation at \(X_{2}\), may…
disambiguating description: An Edgeworth box (named after Irish philosopher and economist Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, 1881) is a two-dimensional representation of a simple, closed economy consisting of two individuals and two items (or resources) that are finite in supply. Any feasible allocation of the items between the individuals is included as a dot in the box; the individuals’ preferences over the items are represented through indifference curves.
date posted: 2020-04-21T07:14:21Z
date modified: 2026-06-29T08:37:22Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Edgeworth box
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences