This guide curates underrated or easily-confused economic concepts and ties them to crisp definitions, examples, and historical context. Use it as a hub: browse, compare, and then dive into focused essays.
Essentials from this site
- Production vs. predation (why systems prosper or fail)
- The paradox of excellence and social tradeoffs
- Austrian perspectives and method
- Morality in economic reasoning (frames and pitfalls)
- Asset inflation and real-world effects
Concept clusters to expand (roadmap)
- Measurement and gaming: Goodhart’s vs. Campbell’s Law
- Money flows and distribution: Cantillon effect
- Currency dynamics: Gresham’s vs. Thiers’ Law
- Externalities of rules: Bootleggers and Baptists; Regulatory capture
- Risk and information: Adverse selection vs. Moral hazard; Market for Lemons
- Productivity puzzles: Baumol cost disease; Jevons paradox; O‑Ring theory
- Political economy: Public choice; Principal–agent problems
How to read these ideas
- Start from the definition (one sentence). 2) Learn the failure mode (how it misleads). 3) Save a canonical example. 4) Contrast with a near‑neighbor concept. 5) Apply to a current policy or market case.
FAQ (to be expanded)
- Are these “heterodox”? Many are mainstream but under‑taught; the lens is pragmatic: incentives → behavior → aggregate outcomes.
- Where are the math models? When useful. Most insight comes from institutional details and selection effects.