On this page you will find links to articles from scholars and journalists on business and economics topics. Some of the articles appear on multiple pages, as they apply to more than one topic.
What determines the economic behavior of individual consumers and businesses and how do they make choices about what to buy and produce? Go to this page to find articles on fundamental ideas such as the role of incentives, marginal decision making, and the blessings and limitations of social science. These articles are essentially devoted to the concept of "thinking like an economist".
What did Milton Friedman mean when he said that "there is no free lunch"? Go to this page for articles on the concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost, the idea that there are costs and tradeoffs associated with every economic decision.
How do specialization and trade improve our economic well-being? These articles focus on the topic of comparative advantage and the related ideas of specialization and trade that were introduced by classical economists Adam Smith and David Riccardo centuries ago.
How should goods and services be rationed and society's scarce resources allocated? These articles will help you think more deeply about whether the core functions of the economy should be left to market forces and the price mechanism or government.
How efficiently do free markets allocate resources and ration goods and services? These articles explore the ideas of supply and demand and how their interaction sends signals to producers and consumers that yield generally efficient results. They also examine the effects of price controls and other forms of government regulation on the efficiency of markets.
Why are markets inefficient sometimes? These articles are about the ways that markets do not perform efficiently, including the fact that they produce externalities such as pollution and fail to provide public goods such as roads and national defense. The articles also explore whether government has a role in making these markets more efficient.