The authors of this article propose a simple exercise of monopoly pricing to illustrate complex theoretical results on the welfare effects of group pricing. By exposing students to this exercise, they aim to bridge a gap between the standard textbook analysis of group pricing and more general results in the literature and clarify some students'…

A classic article by Gary Becker (1965) showed that when it takes time to consume, the first order conditions for optimal consumption require the marginal rate of substitution between any two goods to equal their relative full costs. These include the direct money price and the money value of the time needed to consume each good. This important…

The authors use a relatively simple diagram accompanied by mathematical analysis to compare two pricing strategies: price-quantity packages and a two-part tariff. This is done both from the monopolist's point of view and from the welfare point of view. The authors show that in the case of two consumer types, the price-quantity packages strategy…

The author establishes a property of supply for a competitive firm: Assuming differentiability of the production frontier, linearly independent price vectors have disjoint image sets under the supply mapping. This property supports the main results. First, the author drew a simple proof of McFadden's proposition that differentiability of the…

Summarizes the results of a study of 40 high school students with grade point averages of 2.5 or greater who had never received formal training in economics. The students worked on problems involving basic economic concepts including productivity, profits, opportunity costs, and supply and demand. Discusses their misconceptions. (MJP)

Provides a classroom exercise using the restrictive tariffs on sugar to examine issues of protectionism and international trade. Discusses related issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the formation of large regional trading blocks. Includes a hands-on calculation of the economic impact of the quota on consumers. (MJP)

Over 200 economics units submitted to the annual National Awards Program for Teaching Economics are described. Projects are arranged by academic level (primary, intermediate, junior high, senior high, and college and university) and subdivided by economic concept. Concepts covered include: economic wants, scarcity and choices, economic systems,…