Trade and Trade-Offs: Using Resources, Making Choices, and Taking Risks

What do globalization, the abortion debate, and the decision one makes about what to do about dinner have in common? This and other questions that arise from the necessity of individuals and groups to deal with the who, what, where, when and how of production, distribution, and consumption are addressed in this provocative and witty publication. Street- wise and jaded undergraduates will end up taking a fresh look at their everyday lives and the larger world they will someday manage. Casting aside the idea that "economic" deals only with things that can be measured with money, Smith encourages people to think not just about dollars but also about sense. The emphasis is on the sociocultural costs and benefits involved in making choices. Readers are challenged to rethink many of the usual ways of understanding such everyday concepts as property, capital, poverty and affluence, distribution and exchange, power and authority, rights and privileges versus duties and responsibilities, and even such issues as surplus and waste. Thoughtful people everywhere are asking whether future generations will bask in the sun of such technological innovations as the Internet, cloning and genetic modification, and medical breakthroughs--or live in the shadows cast by these same changes. One of the most important themes addressed is a range of ethical questions, not the least of which is how, when, and to whom future costs and benefits will be distributed.