Is the death penalty an efficient deterrent to murder?

Death Penalty: Pro or Con

Here is another policy debate and another chance for you to think about where you stand on another major issue.
The economic argument in favor of the death penalty is rather simple. Economists assume that individuals weigh the expected costs and benefits when deciding to undertake any activity. Thus, rational individuals considering criminal activities would weigh the expected benefits against the expected cost of the criminal endeavor. The expected cost of any given crime is affected by the probability of being detected, the probability of being convicted given detection, and the expected penalty that results from a conviction. Since the death penalty provides a higher cost than alternative punishments, it is expected to generate a larger deterrent effect, ceteris paribus.
Go to the website and use two sources to justify whether you are for or against the death penalty.

School Vouchers: An Economic Debate

Do School Vouchers Improve the Quality of Education

Follow the link to the article listed above. Read the article and post your thoughts on this issue. Are you for or against school vouchers? Why? Include at least two points from one of the sources listed at the bottom of the article. Be sure to list which source you used. Do not copy the points used by any of your classmates.
Check this website for more resources both pro and con.
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/school_vouchers.htm

Supply and Demand Practice

In your response, select the first unanswered problem from the table. Give your answers to the problem and then leave a problem of your own. The first to respond will answer #2 and leave question #34, the next student to respond will answer #3 and leave #35 and so on.

Market	Event	Would the demand curve or supply curve shift?	Would the curve shift to the right or left?	Determinant Involved
1. wheat	A drought destroys much of the crop.	Supply	Left	Stoner (R) Resources/Raw Materials
2. redwood lumber	Environmentalists urge consumers to boycott redwood products.
3. cigars	A new study shows that smoking cigars results in lots of wrinkles.
4. butter	The price of margarine goes up.
5. paper	The price of wood pulp rises.
6. Hula hoops	Brad Pitt confides to People   magazine that "he gets a big kick out of his hula hoop."
7. yachts	The average price of stocks falls by over 20% between now and the end of the year.
8. gasoline	Large sports-utility vehicles   (like Suburbans and Expeditions) become more popular.
9. umbrellas	Heavy rain is forecast.
10. tofu	E. Coli bacteria is found in another meat plant.
11. gasoline	Two oil supertankers collide.
12.hamburger	The price of hamburger rises.
13.oranges	There's an early frost which   destroys much of the crop.
14. apples	A new pesticide is developed which controls tent caterpillars.
15. grapes	The National Marines Fisheries Service bans pesticide spraying within 1,000 feet of waterways containing coho salmon.
16. wine	The average wage of grape harvesters rises by 10%.
17. U.S. cars	The U.S. imposes a tariff on Japanese car imports.
18. hospital beds	Scientists discover a pill that cures cancer.
19. cement	A 7.9 earthquake hits San Francisco.
20.Video rentals	The price of getting cable TV goes up.
21. windshields	A new law is passed requiring gravel trucks to cover their loads with tarps.
22.Taxi service	Local subway workers go on strike
23.Bike helmets	The price of bicycles goes down
24.melons	The cost of water goes up.
25. Lucernemilk	The price of Safeway milk goes down.
26. jellybeans	The price of jellybeans goes up.
27.Oreo cookies	The price of milk increases.
28.Burger King whoppers	McDonald's lowers the price of Big Macs.
29. Hot dogs	60 Minutes does an expose called "The Truth about Hot Dogs."
30.Hot dog buns	The price of flour rises
31. butter	Mad Cow Disease wipes out a lot of dairy cows.
32. candles	An electric company official announces that a computer bug will likely result in power outages.
33. Cowboy boots	Old Navy launches an ad campaign called "Everyone in cowboy boots."

34. Your entry

Production Possibilities Curve

Click on the title link to find an excellent article on the Production Possibilities Curve and Frontier. The way this weeks blog will work is that I will post a question from the article. The first person to post will answer my question, and then leave a question of their own from the article. The next person to post will answer that question then write one of their own and so on and so on. Question #1 Why do most world religions teach their adherents to have an attitude of gratefulness?
Link to article

Welcome to Microeconomics

Welcome Class of 2016. Reply to this post with a topic that you think we will be studying this semester in Microeconomics. Don't copy any of your classmates posts.