...Economist Steven D Levitt, in his book Freakonomics, published in 2005, addresses the topic of incentives, decision-making, and parenting, and challenges readers to think critically about what goes on in the world around them while applying tools of economics to their lives. Levitt supports his argument by showing examples of real life incentives, such as schoolteachers making their classes look better, or sumo wrestlers purposely blowing matches for bribes, and even financial incentives, such as making parents pay a fine for every minute they were late picking their kids up from day care. His purpose is to make readers understand that things aren't always what they seem like. For instance, your parents might tell you that watching TV can have...
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...TO Prepared by S. Clayton Palmer and Adjunct Instructor Department of Economics Weber State University & Westminster College of Salt Lake J. Lon Carlson Associate Professor Department of Economics Illinois State University PREFACE Introduction Welcome to the Student’s Guide to Freakonomics! The purpose of this guide is to help you better understand the analyses presented in Freakonomics by providing a sort of “bridge” between the material covered in a traditional course in economic principles and topics addressed in what we consider to be one of the most fascinating books we’ve encountered in economics literature. Many students view economics as a very difficult, if not impossible, course to master.This perception is, however, most likely based on observations of the experiences of other students who did not apply the proper approach to learning economics. In many courses, simple memorization is enough. In economics, we would argue, this is not the case.While you need to understand the meaning of basic terms and concepts, you also need to be able to apply economic concepts in specific situations. In other words, you need to develop the ability to think like an economist.The authors of Freakonomics certainly show the reader how to do just that.The material presented here is intended to make the job a little easier. Organization of the Student’s Guide We organized the material in this guide to help you identify the key points in each chapter and check to ensure that you have...
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...More Than a Numbers Game A Brief Histor y of Accounting Thomas A. King John Wiley & Sons, Inc. More Than a Numbers Game More Than a Numbers Game A Brief Histor y of Accounting Thomas A. King John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2006 by Thomas A. King. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability...
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