Feldstein on Obamacare
Marty's latest salvo.

Take Out Your Pencils
For those blog readers who fondly recall exams in introductory economics (I am sure there are many), here is a fun problem based on a question on a recent ec 10 test. Enjoy!Only one firm produces and sells soccer balls in the country of Wiknam, and as the story begins, international trade in soccer balls is prohibited. The following equations describe the monopolist’s demand, marginal revenue, total cost, and marginal cost:Demand: P = 10 – QMarginal Revenue: MR = 10 – 2QTotal Cost: TC = 3 + Q + 0.5 Q^2Marginal Cost: MC = 1 + Q where Q is quantity and P is the price measured in Wiknamian

Unemployment Update
Click on the graph to enlarge. Click here for my interpretation.

Spreading the Word
There are many variants of my favorite introductory economics textbook. For American students, there are five versions, each with different subset of chapters, so every instructor can find one that best suits his or her course. Students a

Environmentalism vs Homeownership
My Harvard colleague Ed Glaeser looks at the negative externalities from suburban sprawl.