Tyler and Alex have new textbooks on micro and macro. Both begin with the same anecdote.
In 1787, the British government had hired sea captains to ship convicted felons to Australia…On one voyage, more than a third of the males died and the rest arrived beaten, starved, and sick…
Instead of paying the captains for each prisoner placed on board ship in Great Britain, the economist suggested paying for each prisoner that walked off the ship in Australia. In 1793, the new system was implemented and immediately the survival rate shot up to 99 percent.
That is economics on one foot–incentives matter.
Direto do Arnold Kling.
