Problem 41E
Show that the well-ordering property can be proved when the principle of mathematical induction is taken as an axiom.
THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST ● economics = the study of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity and of the results of those choices on society ● scarcity makes trade offs necessary ● the scarcity principle = (no-free-lunch principle) although we have boundless needs and wants, the resources are limited ○ having more of one good thing means having less of another ● a trade-off involves compromise between competing interests ● cost-benefit principle = an individual should take action if and only if the extra benefits are at least as great as the extra costs ● rational person = someone with well-defined goals who tries to fulfill those goals as best they can ● the benefit of taking any action is the dollar value of everything you gain by taking it ○ the cost of taking any action is the dollar value of everything you give up by taking it Economic Surplus ● the benefit of taking an action minus the cost ● your goal is to choose actions that generate the largest possible economic surplus Opportunity Cost ● the value of what you must sacrifice to undertake an opportunity ● all costs ● not the combined value of all possible activities you could’ve pursued, but only the value of your best alternative ● rational people tend to compare costs and benefits ● sometimes people ignore costs or benefits that they should take into account and other times they are influenced by costs or benefits that are irrelevant ● the key t