Economics Notes
What These Are
These are reference notes - not essays. Each one explains a single economic concept: what it is, why it exists, and how it shows up in the world around you.
They are intentionally value-neutral. They do not argue for or against any policy. They simply describe how something works, so that when you encounter the concept in a full article or in the news, you already know the mechanism.
The Notes
- Supply & Demand - The pattern behind nearly every price
- Prices - Prices as information machines
- Opportunity Cost - The real cost of any choice
- The Invisible Hand - How self-interest coordinates through markets
- Schumpeterian Profits - The temporary reward for innovation
- Giffen Goods - The rare case where higher demand follows higher prices
- Veblen Goods - When the high price is the product
- Elastic and Inelastic Demand - How much does quantity change when price changes?
- International Trade - Why both sides win
- Money & Currency - What money is, and DADPHIS
- Interest Rates - The price of time
- Modern Monetary Theory - What MMT actually says
- Marginal Analysis - Economics happens at the margin
- Markets - What markets are and what they do
- Microeconomics - The study of individual choices
- Macroeconomics - The study of the whole economy
- Poverty - What poverty is, how it is measured, and the Great Enrichment
- Supply & Demand - The pattern behind nearly every price
- How Prices Work - Prices as information machines
- Opportunity Cost - The real cost of any choice
- International Trade - Why both sides benefit
- Money & Inflation - What money is and why it loses value
- Interest Rates - The price of time
- Modern Monetary Theory - What MMT actually says
The Invisible Hand
How self-interest, without central direction, coordinates production to meet the needs of millions of strangers.
By Anna Karina
Schumpeterian Profits
The temporary surplus earned by innovators who introduce something new - and why it disappears.
By Anna Karina
Giffen Goods
The rare case where a price increase leads people to buy more - because the good absorbs so much of their budget.
By Anna Karina
Markets
What markets are - not a place, but a process of voluntary exchange that coordinates the plans of strangers.
By Anna Karina
Microeconomics
The study of individual choices - how people decide what to buy, firms decide what to produce, and markets coordinate both.
By Anna Karina
Macroeconomics
The study of the economy as a whole - growth, inflation, unemployment, and the policies that influence them.
By Anna Karina
Poverty
What poverty is, how it is measured, and why it has collapsed in the modern era - but not everywhere.
By Anna Karina
Veblen Goods
Goods for which demand rises as the price rises - because the high price is the point.
By Anna Karina
Elastic and Inelastic Demand
How much does quantity change when the price changes? The answer determines who pays a tax and whether a price hike kills sales.
By Anna Karina
Supply & Demand
The pattern behind nearly every price: when something is scarce relative to demand, the price rises. When it is plentiful, the price falls.
By Anna Karina
Prices
Prices are not random numbers. They are messages that coordinate what gets produced and who gets it.
By Anna Karina
Opportunity Cost
The real cost of any choice is not what you spend. It is what you give up.
By Anna Karina
International Trade
Why both sides win when countries trade - and why it looks like one side is losing.
By Anna Karina
Money & Currency
What money actually is - not wealth, but a tool. And the seven attributes that make something useful as money.
By Anna Karina
Interest Rates
The price of time - how interest coordinates borrowing, saving, and investment across the economy.
By Anna Karina
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
What MMT actually says about how sovereign currency works - and what it does not say.
By Anna Karina
Marginal Analysis
Economics happens at the margin - the difference between one choice and the next, not the average or the total.
By Anna Karina