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Economics Through Stories: Economic Analysis and Policy Formation For Our World Today

by Gavin Peebles

202 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #08-0492; ISBN 1-4251-7620-8; US$17.00, C$17.00, EUR12.00, £9.00

Presents economists' way of thinking. Reveals economic stories in books, films, on television and elsewhere. Examines policy issues from road safety, organ transplant, climate change, planetary exploration and many others.

About the Book

This work introduces to the general reader elements of economic analysis and policy formation through the medium of stories. Some of these stories are current events reported in the press or presented in Economics textbooks or journals. Others are to be found in novels, films, plays or comic books. The intention is to encourage readers to assemble stories that illustrate economic arguments and to bring a strong empirical element into any economic or policy discussion. Although topics covered include those of basic microeconomics such as demand and pricing, consumer surplus, price discrimination, opportunity and sunk costs and trade, they also include externalities and the economics of a common resource. This takes us into stories of pollution, overexploitation, climate change and possible policies and the future of our world.

About the Author

Dr Gavin Peebles has worked as an academic economist in universities in England, Wales, Scotland, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore. Since returning to the UK earlier than planned he has been unable to secure a full-time academic post. He is the author of:

Hong Kong's Economy: An Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis, Hong Kong and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Money in the People's Republic of China: A Comparative Perspective, Sydney, Wellington and London: Allen and Unwin, 1991/2.

A Short History of Socialist Money, Sydney, Wellington and London: Allen and Unwin, 1991.

Plus a pseudonymous Economics murder mystery novel reviewed in the Economic Journal.

and with Peter Wilson:

The Singapore Economy, Cheltenham, UK and Brookfield, USA: Edward Elgar, 1996.

Economic Growth and Development in Singapore: Past and Future. Cheltenham, UK and Brookfield, USA: Edward Elgar, 2002.

Plus journal articles and reviews concerning economic ideas, applied Economics, Soviet and East European studies and Asian studies.

Born in Liverpool, he received his early education in Liverpool and Egypt before university studies at Aberystwyth (Economics), Liverpool (Economic Theory), Strathclyde (Russian language), Glasgow (Soviet economy research) and Hong Kong (Chinese language and Chinese economy research). He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Australian National University and most recently was an Associate Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore.

His interests in Economics include the History of Economic Thought, applied economics, comparative economic studies and problems in teaching Economics. Other interests include jazz and blues music and their history, detective stories, the Sherlock Holmes canon, historical mysteries such as the identity of William Shakespeare. He now lives, works and writes in Liverpool.

Excerpts