Jack Bexell, Chapter 13, Question 3

In my book, someone had written this.

Someone had written this into the book for probably a lot of different reasons, but I took it this way: It was to help me with this blog post, and that is what I'm going to use it for. So...

What is the chapter about? It is about the poverty in countries, and what Wheelan thinks we should do about it. He gives examples such as Property Rights, Geography, and Human Capital.

The writing in my book was saying that there is a cycle of poverty in these countries, and explains why. Wealth creates opportunity to learn which creates human talent, but when there is a country with most of the population that is poor, (the writer of these notes called Poor Economics) the economy does not have a solution to mend countries in poverty.

Christen Majors, Chapter 13

Unfortunately poor countries can be "caught in a human capital trap." Skills make an economy sucessful and skilled workers need other skilled workers inorder to be fully sucessful. In a population with few skilled workers they can find they are less productive. Because human capital trumps resources every time and we are unable  to ship huge quantities of human capital to poor countries. I drover to break this cycle or alleviate the cycle trade is very important and a in order for it to be most effective a country needs to have an open economy.

Collis McKenzie, Chapter 13, Question 5

The quote from the Chinese student about corruption was interesting to me. When I was in China the tour guide told us about how before China had the economic reform in the 70s and 80s, the government was so corrupt that nothing could get done efficiently. He told us about how the government took houses from rich people and then gave it to a group of 7-10 families. That gave people a place to live, but it didn't change their conditions. If even after all this time and change China still suffers from government corruption, then it might be impossible to completely get rid of it because it has become a part of the culture.

Adam Hano, Chapter 13, Question 1

Charles Wheelan in chapter 13 explains what polices or factors are common in wealthier nations. An idea that stayed in my mind was the one about corruption. Charles explains that effective government is very important for Economies to grow. He argues that when there is a huge corruption in a country that makes government less efficient then there are many bad results such as: Discouragement of foreign investment, misallocation of resources and decrease in innovation.

I have never thought of corruption in that way. In our country corruption is lots of times seen differently. You meet with corruption almost every day. From trying to bribe a bus ticket inspector, to bribing police officers when they give you a ticket or when you simply want to pass a driving test (people usually give 30 Euros bribes). In many undeveloped countries it is even much worse, but the worst thing is that people perceive corruption as a way to move forward. You are simply more skillful if you can bribe an official. 

Matúš Kočalka, Chapter 13, Question 6

Mr. Wheelan writes about all things that play a significant role when it comes to the economy and wealth of the country. He mentions the important factors such as human capital, geography, openness to trade etc.
The world´s poorest countries are mostly in Africa - partly because of a bad infrastructure, education, location... No one can say that it´s just and only Africa´s fault, that they´re poor. On the other hand, we can say that Slovakia is poor and we´re the only one to blame.
Slovakia has a great position. It´s in the middle of Europe, and that means that we can easily trade with all of the neighbouring countries. This gives us a tremendous opportunity to use it and to drag as much foreign companies (that would give us the work opportunities) as we can. But unfortunately, Slovakia is still stuck in the old mind-set of communism, which almost destroyed the economy of all of the former countries of the Soviet Union. Slovak people trust to the false promises of the famous politicians (raising the retirements, trains for free), and they vote for people that are closely related to the corruption.                                                                                                                                           People in Slovakia caused a significant damage to our country willingly - ten years ago we elected a political party, that privatized huge part of Slovakia, destroyed the national market and at that time, people in Europe perceived us as the "dark hole of Europe" full of suspicious relationships between the politicians and the Mafia. Even though we´re not struggling with most of the things that Wheelan mentioned (we have good education, location etc.), we do not really use it. We keep willingly destroying our country by electing Mafia into the government and therefore sustaining poor. I´m upset.

Marin Chapter 13 Question 6

I remember reading Gun's Germs and Steel for AP World and Jared Dimond came across a man for New Guiana who said "Why do you white men have so much cargo?" Dimond then went on exploring the history of what made our nations evolve to what they are today. He traced back to environment and colonizations. The part in this novel that stood out to me as interesting was when he said corruption can trace all the way back to colonization. This really made me frustrated, because I thought the quote from the Chinese graduate student pleading to know how to get rid of the corruption in China. I was frustrated because I don't think any person should have to feel that way about their life and government and as I kept reading to discover that the corruption is from the economy witch leads back to the patterns of early settlements. Something which this girl in China and other have absolutely no control over, but are forced to live through the consequences now. As I went to read on, I feel like we have the tools to bring about a healthy economy which would lead to less corruption in these nations such as education and human capital. Why can we help educate these countries now to help them create more human capital which would increase their economy, decrease the corruption, and over all help benefit the rest of the world with trade and such. Another countries economy going up only stimulates everyone else economies.

Jack McGillivray, Chapter 13, Question 6

Something that really struck me from this chapter was how the same foreign aid can help some countries so much and others so little. Wheelen proposes that this is due to the ineffectiveness of some governments. He says that poor countries often have bad habits, and these habits are reinforced by any foreign aid they receive. An example that he gives is the countries of East Asia, which have hugely successful economies and effective governments, and the countries of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, which have poor economies and corrupt governments. In the past I had never thought that foreign aid to developing countries may be doing just as much harm as good. And I agree with his solution to make foreign aid merit based, only giving aid to governments that have proved they will use it well. However, as Wheelan mentions, this can leave us in tricky situations. Aid may need to be denied to desperate countries because we know they will use it ineffectually. There is no easy solution to this problem, and it is an issue that will be struggled with for years and years to come.

Lauren Stevens, Chapter 13, Question 6

Something I never fully realized was how much human capital consists of and how much it matters for a country to really be successful. The example that shocked me was when he talked about when there are more educated women there are lower mortality rates in babies. Modern technology in more stable countries then helps out poor countries because it can be shared at almost no cost, which then boosts their productivity making them more stable. Human capital is essential to any countries success and staying successful.

Eleanor Oakman. Chapter 13, Question 6

What I found most interesting and also agreed with, was when Wheelan brought up the differences between open trade countries and self sufficient countries. It is clear that open economies grow much faster than closed. In the American Economist Review they agree as well .  A growth of 0.7 percent per capita compared to 4.5 annual percent is pretty noticeable. Though what got me thinking was why did these select economies close for trade in the first place? Wheelan brought up that many of these countries with closed economies have other problems as well, but why should that be the reason why they are so isolated? Wouldn't trade with other economies influence their neighboring countries to help out and give financial aid to them when in need? Especially if  they  are a trading scource with eachother? That is what confuses me and want to know more about, I may be wrong because I am an average student in life, but it seems to me that being a closed economy just digs a deeper hole for them to manage.

Lily Bjorlin, Chapter 13, Question 5

What struck me most in this chapter was how a fair amount of the determining factors between a wealthy nation and a poverty stricken nation are things that the nation has little to no control over. For example, a wealthy nation has effective government institutions, but the quality of government institutions was linked in the study done by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson to how that area was originally settled or colonized way back when. Current governments have no control over whether they were an "extractive state" or a hospitable area hundreds of years ago, yet it determines in part what their economy is like today. Also, geography is completely luck of the draw. Countries don't decide "Oh let's have a temperate climate today, but tomorrow I'm thinking to switch it up and be tropical, then the next day we should be a tundra." But only two of the thirty "rich" countries have tropical climates. The temperature and weather just isn't conducive to lots of agriculture and good health. However, I was surprised natural resources didn't have as much of an effect as I thought which is good news for countries who weren't gifted with a natural gas deposit or lots of coal that could be mined.

Ingrid Snook, Chapter 13, Question 2

Throughout this chapter, Wheelan emphasizes the negative long term effects that come with third world countries and the ineffective way richer countries try to improve them. Wheelan breaks down this chapter into about 9 issues that should be focused in on for improving third wheel countries. One that he focused on that shocked me the most was his paragraphs on the equality of women. In many many countries there is still massive gender inequality and it's incredible to see what a difference that could make eliminating that for a third world country. Utilizing every oersons talents and knowledge seems like such a basic thing to improve human capita, but it is obviously lost in a lot of countries. This concept seems like it is one that could be improved and have positive effects in the future, but it will only change if people want the change. Unlike some other issues mentioned in this chapter (war, the discovery and use of natural resources, and geography) that will not always and cannot be prevented, gender equality seems like a change a country could make toward self-sufficiency and improvement.

Laura Bartz, Chapter 13, Question 5

Wheelan was talking about the importance of democracy amd. Working government to help a nation's economy grow. "Famines have never materialized in any country that is independent" having freedom of speech and competition for leadership of the nation, will lead to a better functioning country. If there is no competition allowed or criticism of the nation could lead to inprisonment or death, then the country cannot develop and work more efficiently for the whole and the quality of life will atrophy with it.

Nathan Rowley, Chapter 13, Question 5

There are many moral and political arguments one can make for giving women equal rights, and just as many against it. I was surprised to learn that there is an argument with implications that are a bit more concrete. On page 311, Charles Wheelan talks about the Arab Human Development Report and its conclusions, one of which was that "women's status" was a key factor slowing economic growth. The idea makes intuitive sense; the farming analogy that Wheelan makes demonstrates it quite nicely. But for the Arab region, which has so few, if any, rights for women, the idea becomes revolutionary. Finally, we can make an argument that isn't based on a normative judgement: if you want your lives to improve at any appreciable rate, give women equal rights.

I was not surprised to read that the women used money more sensibly than the men did.

Bennett Pope, Chapter 13, Question 3

Disease is an enormous problem in the developing world. Millions of people are killed by diseases leaving orphaned children and widows with even less than they had before. It seems as though modern medicine should be able to put an end to this, but it doesn't. Wheelan says in chapter 13 that the cause of this, essentially, greed. Creating new treatments for diseases can be incredibly profitable if people are willing and able to pay for them. The problem is, those willing and able to pay for them are not, typically, in the developing world. As a result, the vaccinations needed in the developing world are not created because it is difficult to make money that way. The solution Wheelan gives for this is to have governments give monetary incentives to create these vaccinations and treatments. People respond to money, and will be much more likely to research new possibilities for treatment if incentivized. By making people more healthy, they have more time to become more productive, and that will result in growth.

Caroline Paulsen, Chapter 13, Question 5

I have known for a while that corruption is a very significant force in less developed countries (and still a force in developed ones as well)— when I was in Kenya in 6th grade, I noticed that in general, people who had authority (including in the government) tended to abuse that authority. There was a lot of tribe-based favoritism, and people would often try to make things more difficult for people from tribes that were historically enemies with their own. Also, I heard many stories about the Kenyan police, who were generally acknowledged as being corrupt. This corruption made many things much more difficult and inefficient.

Nevertheless, one of the passages from chapter 13 that shocked me the most was about the Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, who tried to set up a one-person clothing stall without bribing anyone. He was doing this to determine how much it would take (and whether or not it was possible) to actually comply with the unreasonable and excessive laws that were in place and still succeed. After working 6 hours per day for 42 weeks with his team, they were able to open a small, one-person shop for a total of $1,231 (which is 31 times Peru's monthly minimum wage). Along the way, people asked for bribes 10 times and they had to pay the bribes twice. This both horrified and fascinated me because it made me realize how impossible it would be for an average citizen in less developed countries to do a seemingly straightforward task, like opening a small business, without paying bribes.

Jack Bexell, Chapter 11, Question 5

"At the other end of the political spectrum, the antiglobalzation coalition access the World Bank and IMF of acting as capitalist lackeys forcing globalization on the developing world and leaving poor countries saddled with large debts in the process. The organizations' meetings have become an occasion for violent protest."

Because of the big companies, the worlds progress in total is staggered. Countries who are already behind in development are left further behind due to their large debts. This stuck out to me because it confused me why this is even a cycle. Shouldn't there be a system that when a country is developing behind the rest of the world, there is a force pushing it back to the line of the norm, instead of leaving in behind? Humanities need for competition does not help in most cases of inequality. For example, when a child wants to play with a certain toy, and another child sees that child's wanting for that activity, the other one competes for that toy and leaves the other child with nothing. Same is this system of the development. When the big coalitions force the globalization, the rest of the developing world gets stuck in the hole of debt.

Jack McGillivray, Chapter 11, question 5

Something I found extremely interesting from the chapter was the fact that growth is good for everyone. In almost every other circumstance if someone else or your opponent is doing better than you are its a bad thing. However in economics there are no real opponents. If one nation's economy is doing much better than another's it does not hinder the anyone, but instead provides benefits to both of the nations. This can be a difficult concept to understand because of our preconceived notions of competition and what it entails. But global economics is not a zero sum game, one nation doing well will lead to others doing well.

Jacky Xu,Chapter 11,question 5

"Of course ,"all else equal"is a phrase that never actually applies to the global economy."
The exchange rate is changing all the time p,and no one can really predict what will happen in the future,so no one can really predict what will happen to a country's currency.Just like Chinese is developing so fast that people even thinking that Chinese yuan will take place US dollar one day.however dollar is still pretty stable right now,and the US bond is one of the safest bond in the world.

Matúš Kočalka, Chapter 11, Question 1

In this Chapter Mr. Wheelan says that: "A change in the exchange rate makes foreign goods cheaper or more expensive, depending on the direction of the change."
In order to support his argument, he gives us some examples. I remember one with the accomodation in Paris. One American was complaining that the hotel changed their prices, because it cost him more than what was written in their official price list. The hotel manager calmly replied that they didn´t charge him more - and the truth was on his side. Since the USD currently worth less comparing to the Euro, the price of the accomodation in the hotel havent´t changed. Americans pay more, because they have to exchange more of their dollars for less of our Euros, and therefore, for the Americans, the price for the hotel accomodation isn´t the same as the one that´s in the price list. Euro rules!
I remember travelling to Romania. Since they still don´t have the Euro, but their national currency is Lei, we had to exchange our currency for theirs. And once we came to Romania, everything was much cheaper. For example we stopped in one restaurant, and they charged us for the full menu/ person altogether 6 Euros. Comparing to Slovakia, it´s nothing. It was a pretty solid restaurant, and I guarantee that in Slovakia it would cost you more than 15 Euros. In Europe, when a person travells to the East, the prices change and are totally different from the prices in the West. Romania, comparing to the France or Britain is a price heaven.
Mr. Wheelan also says that if everyone knew that, and started buying goods/ services in Romania, they currency would raise. But it still didn´t happen there:)

Christen Majors, Chapter 11

Similar to my last post for chapter 10, what stood out to me in Chapter 11 was the idea of paper money as a medium of exchange. The American dollar like every other well known currency is not backed by gold, or camels, or paper clips making its value in trade just as a medium of exchange.

Adam Hano, chapter 11, question 1

In Chapter 11 Charles Wheelan explains currency change. Since I am now here in the US the exchange rates affect me a lot. When my brother was here five years ago the exchange rate was much better for Euro. For 1 Euro you could get 1.4 dollars. Now it is around only 1.1. The cost of me traveling here therefore is higher by more than 30 percent.

Furthermore, Charles explains the cost of single currency such as Euro. He explains that by having Euro countries lost their power to control monetary policy. They simply are going with the flow that might not reflect their economy. This affects everyone in the Euro zone, because we have to bear the cost of Greece and other countries, for which the Euro is simply to expansive. 

Bennett Pope, Chapter 11, question 6

In this chapter I learned a lot about the connections between the currencies of different nations around the world, but I was left wondering to what extent different countries affect others. For example, the world is going to notice a much larger difference if the U.S Dollar changes in value than the Guatemalan Quetzal. I would be interested to know what countries have the greatest impact and how much of an impact they have. The world impact of the Great Recession has been talked about, but what about on a smaller scale? Does the world primarily worry about the US? China? The Middle East? I am curious to know more.

Eleanor Oakman, Chapter 11. Question 6

What I found most interesting or wanted to learn more about was the failings of certain currencies around the world. Though I still don't really know what "pegged" exchange rates are when Wheelan tries to explain them to the readers, I am starting to grasp the significance of the different currencies. For example, today in Greece. For Greece, they are on the brink of changing their currency mainly because they are having such a hard time trading and connecting with other countries, and also they are in a severe depression. Reading about when currencies fail on page 256 I thought about the speculators (who they specifically are I still don't understand) and how they are able to make millions off of the countries economic failure. Because of their dept and weak economic structure does that mean when a country leads to failure the currency goes first since it's the physical object that is being traded with other countries? I hope you (Hoffner) can bring this up in class on Tuesday so the class can discuss what "pegged" exchange rates are, and how exactly these speculators are making money when the currencies change.

Laura Bartz, Chater 11, Question 5

The idea of a gold standard seems fairly straightforward and it makes your currency sound super cool. Finding out exchange rates is much more simplified since all you have to find out is how much of your currency does it take to buy an ounce of gold and the same for the country's currency that you are trying to convert to and then the math is very straightforward. But Wheelan easily points out the massive problem with currency being backed by gold. When the value of the currency starts depreciating at a concerning rate, people immediately demand that the notes that they hold be exchanged for gold. This will then lessen the demand further for the currency and make it depreciate further which turns into a viscous cycle until the currency is worth nothing.

Caroline Paulsen, Chapter 11, Question 5

One passage that I found particularly interesting in this chapter was titled "funny money", which addresses currencies that don't have value internationally. In this section, Charles Wheelan gives an example of one particular "soft" currency, the East German mark, which only had purchasing power in the communist world. Charles Wheelan had to exchange "hard currency" for East German marks at a seemingly arbitrary exchange rate at a checkpoint to enter East Germany. When leaving East Berlin, the remainder of his East German marks were purportedly put on an account under his name, which may still exist, even though the currency is now useless. This part of chapter 5 was especially memorable because it emphasizes the fact that currency is only worth something because we've decided that it's worth something.

Chapter 11: Question 6, Marin Fredrickson

My biggest takeaway from this chapter, or at least what made the most significant impression on me was I need Soros to manage my finances. When I first read that he made one billion dollars in one night, it sounded impressive, but I really wasn't impressed until I read on and learned how smooth he was in treating something like currency almost as object. How he was able to predict that the pound was going to go down and how he could work the system and how smooth he was with the stocks and bonds. This chapter helped me understand it a little more, but rather than feeling confident about knowing how money in the world I feel less confident than I was before because I knew less before. I didn't think it was this complex! I have never heard of a PPP or how International currencies have such a domino effect. This is why I need a Soros in my life.

Chapter 11, Question 5, Lauren Stevens

Something that I found interesting was the way that The Economist used Big Macs to explain the difference in the worth of currency around the world. It helped me understand it more, because almost every place has a McDonalds with Big Macs, and they're worth more or less depending on how much their currency is worth compared the the U.S. dollar. This comparison will ultimately help me remember how the difference effects exchange between countries, even though the example is using a below average fast food item.

Nathan Rowley, Chapter 11, Question 6

I was surprised to learn that the U.S. debt is as much a problem for its creditors, like China, as for itself. As dangerous as it is for the U.S. to be in such debt, default or inflationary tactics for getting rid of the debt are just as dangerous for China, because it will lose all of the money it has loaned. It makes sense, however, that the situation will eventually have to resolve, as Charles Wheelan says.

In biology, the only symbiotic relationship that is harmful to both species involved is competition. It is that same competition that serves as a primary driver of evolution. The same principles are present in economics, from the level of individuals all the way up to countries. Competition is how economies evolve, but it can be a destructive process for both.

Jack Bexell, Chapter 10, Question 6

"The phrase 'somewhere in the range' gives you the first inkling of how hard the Fed's job is. The Federal Reserve must strike a delicate balance. If the economy grows more slowly than it is capable of, then we are wasting economic potential."

The federal reserve shows that the slower the economy grows the more waste in efficiency that we have. What can we do to make things more efficient? More people with more skills could really make the economy boost. 

Also I have a question. Do chain restaurants hurt the economy? specifically Starbucks?(unrelated)

I'm sorry that I didnt post earlier.

Collis Mckenzie, chapter 10, question 5

What stuck out to me from the chapter was section on governments taxing their citizens indirectly by printing more money to pay government employees. The government has more money that is worth less than before, but overall the government has more purchasing power than before. It's interesting to think that when money has no intrinsic value, it is easy to change how much it is worth. The value of the dollar is equal to the value of the dollar and nothing more, so the value of a dollar changing is necessarily always a bad thing.

Jacky Xu,Chapter 10 question6

"Inflation is bad;deflation,or steadily falling prices,is much worse "when the price keep falling down,everyone expect that the price will go lower.and this will cause that people keep their money instead of spending then.(just like you know the Black Friday discount,why would you spend the money before that).And people stop using their money which break the market,because there is no exchange.When the demand goes down,same as supply,and company start to shut down,and the economy of the country is in danger

Christen Majors, Chapter 10, question

Money serves as a mean of exchange and wealth is measured by the accumulation of of all things that have value. Money is used during trade and commerce. Before paper money was used as a medium of exchange humans used material objects such as bottles and pans and necklaces. They used these things because they were confident that they could trade these things and get something in return of equal value. We now use paper money for the same reason because we it has become a mean of exchange that we are confident will be able to be used to by what we need. Now that I think about it what will we be using as a medium of exchange in 2027?

Matúš Kočalka, Chapter 10, Question 5

Mr. Wheelan describes why people believe that money worth something: “And people peddling real things will accept dollars because they are confident that other people peddling other real things will accept them.”                                                                                                                                    When I stop and think about it, I still cannot really believe that the entire humankind is partially based on our imagination. The world works, because we set the strict rules, and one of these rules is that money actually worth something. We are so confident in our belief that the money have a certain price, but in the reality, it´s just a piece of paper. When I realize that money aren´t backed up by anything else (e.g. gold, silver), than just by our faith, it´s making me confused – how can we be so certain, that this idea will work also in future? That there won´t be some sudden crash, which will destroy all of our worldwide markets?                                                                                                  Our entire world is based on a piece of paper. 

Lily Bjorlin, Chapter 10, Question 5

I have never fully understood inflation. How can something that has a set value suddenly just not be worth that same amount? When Wheelan explained how the dollar is actually worth nothing and it's just the value we give it and the "purchasing power" we put into a piece of paper (well it's mostly cotton but whatever). Inflation means we start believing that piece of paper has less value than before, despite the paper not changing at all. This made the whole concept so much clearer to me.

Adam Hano, Chapter 10, Question 1

In chapter 10 Charles Wheelan explains how the inflation works. Many of those examples were really scary, because you realize that your money (your wealth) depends on the trust of people, and the magic hand of the Fed. What is even more scary for me is the fact that if I earn 10 $ today in 10 years the value could be only 5$.

The sentence that struck me the most was, when he linked bad economics to WWII. When I read it I realized that Economics aren’t simply a tool to make us better off, but that economics can be used as a weapon in war. This is possible because of the huge impact of Economics in our lives as for example inflation in post WWII Germany. 

Caroline Paulsen, Chapter 10, Question

Before reading this chapter, I have to admit that I had taken the Federal Reserve for granted. I knew that it has a significant part in controlling the economy, but I hadn't realized just how difficult it is to predict economic trends. The part of this chapter that was most interesting to me was where Charles Wheelan listed all of the factors that make it difficult to implement a good rate of economic growth: we don't know the economy's "speed limit", any policies implemented will have delayed effects, the Fed is not the sole controller of the economic growth rate, and unforeseen world events can mess up the economy. This made me realize just how difficult and unpredictable it is to try to control and guide economic growth.

Jack McGillivray, Chapter 10, Question 6

Until reading this chapter I had known that the Fed controlled interest rates, but I had no clue how they did that or what interest rates they controlled. Previously when I heard the fed changed interest rates i assumed it was on anything with interest, however once i realized that there are thousands of different interest rates on thousands of investments and loans, Federal reserve interest rates really confused me. Now that i know that fed interest rate changes are just manipulation of bond currency exchange the concept makes much more sense to me. Its also really interesting the amount of calculation and guesswork involved in the process. Knowing how uncertain the process is also helps me to understand why during the latest recession there were so many ideas proposed, and why there were so many beliefs about what the effect of each of these ideas would be.

Ingrid Snook, Chapter 10, Question 5

What really stuck out to me during this chapter was when Wheelan is talking about India. He made it sound like the whole concept of our currency, and the a lot of the worlds, is all psychological. Knowing that our currency isn't actually worth anything, we're just putting a mental value on it is almost disturbing. What if one day we all refused to pay with money and decided to pay with talents or riddles or facts instead? Who would be the rich people? It just makes me wonder how the people of our country often don't agree on a a lot of things, but for some reason we can all agree that our hard earned dollar is worth something being sold to us. It's not bad necessarily, it's just kind of weird.

Eleanor Oakman, Chapter 10. Question 6

What I found really interesting in chapter 10 was when Wheelan brought up  the descriptions of what money is supposed to be. One of the reasons why I enjoyed reading this so much was because we discussed the topic of money in class on Tuesday. What I think is a good idea is for our money to be laminated with plastic, it is in decent shape compared to what money used to be. As in heavy or inconsistent or to big or to small. Like gold coins or whale teeth! Our money now is light, thin, and consistently used. What would make our money amazing would be if it were more durable, also known as laminated! In Canada, their money is plastic and I bet it doesn't rip or dissolve or shred as easily as our  thin paper money. Yet another idea for  the u.s to consider.

Bennett Pope, Chapter 10, Question 6

I did not previously understand how narrow a margin the Federal Reserve has in getting the money supply right. The factors they have to take into account are incredible, and the time it takes to see the effects of their policy makes it even harder. If they make interest rates too low, we get too much inflation, and if they err too high, there is deflation. It makes me think of playing a video game where your character lags and you have to wildly predict the future. It causes me to respect those who are smart enough to get these rates even near where they should be, and it causes me to be more sympathetic towards those who miss the mark.

Nathan Rowley, Chapter 10, Question 5

I found page 241 of chapter ten to be the most interesting. On that page, Charles Wheelan describes how "the Fed started to do things that one recent economic paper described as 'not in the current textbook descriptions of monetary policy,'" in response to the 2007 financial crisis. He shortly follows with the statement "Ben Bernanke and crew pulled out the monetary equivalent of duct tape." As our economies grow larger and more complex, governments will have to find novel ways of managing economic trends and mitigating crises, as the Fed had to do in 2007.

The physical sciences have developed beyond their basic stages, and consequently produced engineering jobs applying scientific knowledge. Economics, in its current form, is still in a basic stage. Perhaps we will see job openings for economic engineering in the future.

Laura Bartz, Chapter 10, Question 6

When I was younger I always thought that America would never have money problems because they could just print more money. I mean it makes sense more notes means more money, end of problem. But one very important criteria for money to work is that it has to be scarce. the more money there is floating around, the less value it has and therefore the less useful it is for solving the problem. So my question is, if we find that inflation is increasing too quickly, when money goes through banks to the federal reserve can and do they just pull notes and not let as many go back out?