MICROECONOMICS

1. Pollution control can be very profitable
   "Together at Last: Cutting Pollution and Making Money," New York Times, September 9, 2001

   Controlling pollution need not be just an extra cost which lowers the profits of a company. In fact, if properly run and with some luck, it can result in a large profit. The following are some of successful pollution control measures which have generated substantial profits.  more >>

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2. Quasi-rent of high earnings of American corporate executives
   "GE's Talent Agency", Time, December 11, 2000.

   The Fortune 500, the largest 500 companies in the United States, pay almost unimaginable sums of money to their chief executive officers (CEOs.) For example, Conseco, an insurance company, paid its new CEO a $45 million signing bonus and a special bonus of $50 million, in addition to $3 million annual salary. Hewlett-Packard's (HP) new CEO received $50 million up front for leaving another company to lead HP.  more >>

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3. Starting salaries of new college graduates
   (source of income data: "Help Still Wanted," Time, May 7, 2001

   College graduates at the beginning of the twenty-first century may be discouraged with their employment prospects, given all the negative news about job lay-offs. According to the news, the lay-off situation is particularly grave in the high tech industry, which has been laying off employees at an alarming rate. However, it is only the bad news that seems to make it into the newspapers and on television; the good news seldom does.  more >>

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4. Subletting a rent-controlled apartment: pros and cons
   "The Big City: A Room and a View (Libertarian)," New York Times, June 15,2001

   In New York City, rent control is still in effect as long as the original tenants occupy the rent-controlled apartments. The rent control policy began several decades ago, and the rent has been almost frozen at the original level. The intent of rent control is to provide affordable dwellings to low income people.  more >>

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5. Your house is still the best source of your wealth
   "Through the Roof!" Newsweek, August 9, 1999

   The soaring stock market in recent years created unprecedented wealth (or paper wealth) to the American public in general. Yet, the volatile stock market cannot always be relied upon as a source of permanent wealth. Instead, the mundane residential house appears to be still the best source of accumulating personal wealth.  more >>

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6. A fallacy of composition: saving is good for an individual, yet very harmful for a national economy
   "In Japan, a vicious cycle of oversaving," U.S News & World Report, March 19, 2001

   For most of us without a significant inheritance, saving (i.e., not spending all of one's earned income) is the only way to accumulate sufficient wealth to pay for large items such as a house, car or higher education. Yet if too many people try to save all at once, this will significantly reduce an economy's aggregate consumer demand, which, in turn, will decrease output and employment.  more >>

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7. Human capital is the most important ingredient of an economy
   "Gross Domestic Product vs. Gross Domestic Well-being," New York Times, September 20, 2001

   Human capital, i.e., the skill and knowledge of workers, is the most important ingredient of an economy, and generates 70% of national income in an industrialized country. An analysis of how devastating destruction did not ruin one economy will help prove this contention.  more >>

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8. The changing pattern of income distribution in America
   "The Rich Get Richer," U.S. News & World Report, February 21, 2000

   Over the past three decades, Americans in all income brackets have become economically better off than before. For example, the average living space per person is now 800 square feet, double that of the average space per person in 1970. Now, 62% of families, compared to 29% in 1970, have two or more cars.  more >>

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