Once a ship full of jewels sank into the sea, and the salvage company rushed to salvage it. One of the companies applied to the court for an injunction to prevent other companies from salvaging. The court asked why? He said that the ship was too deep for any company to salvage, but only our company knew the exact location of the sunken ship, so we had the most hope. If you don't issue this ban, if we rush in, the cost of salvage and fighting may be greater than the value of the jewels in the sunken ship, which makes our efforts meaningless in the end. Finally, the court issued an injunction prohibiting others from salvaging.
Professor Xue explained to us the significance of intellectual property protection from the perspective of social cost, which was refreshing, so he bought this book.
At the beginning, Professor Xue described the economist's perspective and research object:
"There is only one difference between a good economist and a bad economist. A bad economist can only see the visible consequences, while a good economist can weigh the visible consequences and the consequences obtained through speculation. "
"What economics wants to study is not the problem of' good people do good things and bad people do bad things', but the phenomenon of backfiring. What it wants to ask is, why do good intentions sometimes do bad things? "
Then Professor Xue explained the core concepts of economics from the perspective of economists, such as scarcity, cost, demand, price, supply, information asymmetry and cooperation. The language is easy to understand, the ideas are novel and unique, and the cases are rich and interesting. I didn't feel bored after reading it in one breath.
What do we think of the popular broken window theory in society?
From an economist's point of view, we should think about those invisible losses. "If the window is not broken, the resources owned by the householder can be used for other production and generate more wealth. These other productions and wealth that have disappeared due to trauma are not easy for us to see. "
Is sunk cost a cost?
Sunk cost refers to the cost that has occurred but cannot be recovered. When we can't get it back and give it up, there is no cost. When it comes to cost, we must look forward, not backward. So sunk cost is not cost. "
Which is cheaper, conscription or volunteer service?
When compulsory conscription, the monetary cost paid by the government is relatively low. Although the government has got a cheap soldier, society may lose a chemist, violinist or entrepreneur, and the loss is immeasurable.
The person who practices the volunteer system and has the least opportunities elsewhere is also the one who thinks that being a soldier can bring him satisfaction. This kind of person is best suited to be a soldier.
A truck passed the flax field, and its sparks burned 700 tons of flax. Should the railway company compensate?
In real life, if the railway company and farmland belong to the same person, what will he do? As long as he moves the linen away, the accident can be avoided. Whoever has the lowest cost to avoid accidents has the greatest responsibility. Through this way of responsibility sharing, the total cost of avoiding accidents in the whole society will be minimized.
Is it a good thing to make a fortune while people are in danger?
"The national tragedy was caused by the man who made a fortune? If not, then the person who takes the opportunity to get rich just provides another choice for others. People who make a fortune may indeed use others, but this kind of use is also good for each other. "
Why do deposits have interest rates?
"The key to the existence of interest rates in any spot and futures trading is that people have time preferences, and people are willing to spend earlier rather than later. In order to persuade others to postpone consumption and accept futures, people who want to exchange cash have only one compensation method. Compensation is the basis of interest rate. "
Professor Xue also has a wonderful exposition about the futures market I trade:
"The futures market is not gambling, it just redistributes the inevitable risks. Gambling creates risks that do not exist. The futures market is a positive sum game-after a series of institutional arrangements and risk redistribution, everyone's happiness has been improved. "
There are many wonderful ideas in the book, so I won't repeat them here because of the space limitation. The biggest gain from reading this book should be the change of thinking mode. As the preface of the book says, it helps me to become more rational, receptive and enterprising.
Of course, I can't agree with some viewpoints in the book, such as the train tickets in Spring Festival travel rush Grab the Tickets.
Professor Xue believes that monopolizing commodities is not a reason to oppose market pricing, and supports adjusting the demand side with prices. In my opinion, the basis for price to play a role in market regulation is perfect competition in the market. In a monopoly market, the price is distorted, which can only adjust the demand, but not affect the supply. If price control is liberalized, monopoly enterprises will definitely pursue profit maximization, not social efficiency maximization.
In 20 13, an interesting thing happened in economics. Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller won the Nobel Prize in Economics at the same time, but they hold two diametrically opposite views-efficient market hypothesis and market bubble theory.
It doesn't matter what the conclusion is, what matters is the idea.
As Professor Xue wrote in the postscript: "Authentic economic thinking is the exploration of causal laws including human nature. In this exploration process, numbers are not important, terms are not important, and conclusions are not important; Imagination is important, perspective is important, reasoning is important, and trade-offs are more important. "
20 19 65438+ 10/2 was written in Shenzhen.