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microeconomics

C O L A N D E R
11e
MICROECONOMICS
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 ELEVENTH EDITION

Microeconomics
David C. Colander
Middlebury College
MICROECONOMICS, ELEVENTH EDITION
Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright ©2020 by
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Names: Colander, David C.
Title: Microeconomics / David C. Colander, Middlebury College.
Description: Eleventh edition. | New York, NY : McGraw-Hill Education, [2020]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018046219 | ISBN 9781260507140 (alk. paper) | ISBN
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 About the
Author
David Colander is Distinguished College Professor at Middlebury College.
He has authored, coauthored, or edited over 40 books and over 200 articles on a
wide range of economic topics.
He earned his BA at Columbia College and his MPhil and PhD at Columbia
University. He also studied at the University of Birmingham in England and at
Wilhelmsburg Gymnasium in Germany. Professor Colander has taught at
Columbia University, Vassar College, the University of Miami, and Princeton
University as the Kelley Professor of Distinguished Teaching. He has also been
Courtesy of David Colander
a consultant to Time-Life Films, a consultant to Congress, a Brookings Policy
Fellow, and Visiting Scholar at Nuffield College, Oxford.
Professor Colander has been president of both the History of Economic
Thought Society and the Eastern Economics Association. He has also served on
the editorial boards of The Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Journal of
Economic Education, The Journal of Economic Methodology, The Journal of the
History of Economic Thought, The Journal of Socio-Economics, and The Eastern
Economic Journal. He has been chair of the American Economic Association
Committee on Electronic Publishing, a member of the AEA Committee on
Economic Education, and is currently the associate editor for content of The
Journal of Economic Education.
He is married to a pediatrician, Patrice. In their spare time, the Colanders
designed and built an oak post-and-beam house on a ridge overlooking the Green
Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west. The house is located on
the site of a former drive-in movie theater. (They replaced the speaker poles with
fruit trees and used the I-beams from the screen as support for the second story of
the carriage house and the garage.) They now live in both Florida and Vermont.
 Preface
Economics is about ideas, not models. The goal of this
text is to convey to students the ideas that make up mod-
ern economics. The ideas are both about the way the
economy works, and about how to design policy to make
the economy work better.
How This Book Differs
from Others
Ideas are nuanced; models are not. From its beginning, this
book has provided a nuanced narrative that emphasizes
both ideas and models. Its distinctive features have been
its conversational style and its inclusion of different views
within mainstream economics. It doesn’t offer a cookie cut-
ter presentation of material, but instead offers a blend of
logical model building and nuanced discussion of applying
the models. The writing style is conversational, designed to
allow the student to feel a connection with me—the
writer—to make it clear that I am a human being, not a ma-
chine. This approach is particularly welcomed as students
spend more and more time learning material online.
Even while spending a lot of time online, students seek
personal connections. It still makes my day when students
whom I’ve never met in person write me thanking me for
making the course fun and for relating to them. I’m delighted
with the reception this book has received, and the loyal
­following who have used, and continue to use, the book.
While the book is consciously mainstream, it differs from
most other top books in its tone. It presents economic theory
more as a changing heuristic than as an unchanging scientific
theory. So, while the discussion of the models is the same as
in other books, the discussion of the application of the mod-
els is different. I emphasize the difficulties of applying the
models while most principles books gloss over them.
Nuanced Economics: Teaching
More Than Models
Recent economic pedagogy has shifted away from seeing
textbooks as a narrative, to seeing them as a compilation
of models that can be presented in separable building
blocks or modules. This modularization of the teaching of
economic principles involves dividing economic knowl-
edge into learning objectives, sub learning objectives, and
sub-sub learning objectives.
This building block approach makes lots of sense as
long as one remembers that you also need mortar and
vi
a­ rchitectural blueprints to hold the building blocks to-
gether. That mortar and those blueprints are embedded in
the text’s narrative. Unfortunately, mortar and ­blueprints
don’t fit nicely into building block modules captured by
learning objectives. Mortar and blueprints require con-
ceptualization that goes beyond the standard models—
conceptualization that brings the big picture into focus.
And, because there are a variety of architectural blue-
prints, there is not a single, but a variety of, big pictures;
models highlight only one of those blueprints.
The study of such issues is the grist for “big think”
economics that characterizes this book where nuance is
integrated into understanding, and students see the im-
portance of mortar. Consideration of such issues often
goes under the heading of critical thought. To learn to
think critically students have to be presented with some
questions without definitive answers, but ones upon
which, when addressed creatively, economic models can
shed light. My book contains lots of such questions.
My approach to models follows the approach Alfred
Marshall used back when he first introduced the supply/
demand model into the principles course. Marshall em-
phasized that economics was an approach to problems,
not a body of confirmed truths. In my view, the modeling
method, not the models, is the most important element of
an economic understanding. In my presentation of mod-
els, I carefully try to guide students in the modeling
method, rather than having them memorize truths from
models. I carefully emphasize the limitations of the mod-
els and the assumptions that underlie them, and am con-
stantly urging students to think beyond the models. This
approach pushes the students a bit harder than the alterna-
tive, but it is, in my view, the best pedagogical approach;
it is the critical thinking approach.
When taking a critical thinking approach two princi-
ples stand out: (1) Institutions and history are important
in policy discussions and (2) good economics is open to
dealing with various viewpoints. Let me discuss each of
these principles briefly.
Institutions and History Are Important to
Understand Policy
If you open up Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, John
Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, or Alfred
Marshall’s Principles of Economics, you will see eco-
nomic analysis placed in historical and institutional
 Preface
c­ ontext. The modern textbook template moved away from
that, and in previous editions, I have tried to return the
principles of economics toward that broader template,
presenting models in a historical and institutional context.
This edition continues that emphasis on institutions and
history. Modern work in game theory and strategic deci-
sion making is making it clear that the implications of
economic reasoning depend on the institutional setting.
To understand economics requires an understanding of
existing institutions and the historical development of
those institutions. In a principles course we don’t have
time to present much about history and institutions,
but that does not preclude us from letting students know
that these issues are important. And that’s what I try to do.
When I say that institutions and history are important,
I am talking especially about economic policy. This text
and the accompanying supplements are not ­designed for
future economics majors. Most principles students aren’t
going to go on in economics. I write for students who will
probably take only one or two economics courses in their
lifetime. These students are interested in policy, and what
I try to present to them is modern economic reasoning
relevant to policy questions.
Because I think policy is so important in explaining
how to apply economic reasoning, I utilize a distinction
made by J. N. Keynes (John Maynard Keynes’ father) and
Classical economists generally. That distinction is be-
tween theorems—the deductive conclusions of models—
and precepts—the considered judgments of economists
about the policy implications of the models. I make it
clear to students that models do not tell us what to do
about policy—they give us theorems. Only when we
combine the models’ results with our understanding of
institutions, our understanding of the social context, and
our understanding of the normative goals we want to
achieve, can we arrive at policy conclusions embodied in
precepts.
Openness to Various Views
While I present modern economics, I present it in such a
way that is open to many different points of view. I don’t
present the material as “the truth” but simply as the con-
ventional wisdom. Learning conventional wisdom is a
useful hurdle for all students to jump over. To encourage
students to question conventional wisdom, at the end of
each chapter I include a set of questions—Questions from
Alternative Perspectives—written by economists from a
variety of different perspectives. These include Post-
Keynesian, Feminist, Austrian, Radical, Institutionalist,
and Religious perspectives. Each is described further in
the “Distinguishing Features” section that follows the
preface. The Radical questions come from the Dollars
vii
and Sense Collective, a group with whom I’ve worked to
coordinate their readers (www.dollarsandsense.org/
bookstore.html) with this text. I also often integrate Aus-
trian ideas into my class; I find that The Free Market
(www.mises.org) is a provocative resource.
I often pair an article in The Free Market with one in
Dollars and Sense in my assignments to students for sup-
plementary reading. Having students read both Radical
and Austrian views, and then integrate those views into
more middle-of-the-road views is, for me, a perfect way
to teach the principles course. (If I have a lot of radicals
and libertarians in the class, I assign them articles that
advocate more middle-of-the-road views.)
Integrating Nuance into the
Learning Platform
Changes in technology are changing the medium through
which ideas are conveyed and the way students learn. Stu-
dents today don’t know a time without the Internet and
social media, which provide them with access to a broad
range of digital resources and instant feedback. Technol-
ogy has changed the way they learn, and if we are to reach
them, we have to present material in ways that fit their
learning style. They want to be able to access their
courses anywhere, anytime—at a coffee shop in the after-
noon, in their dorm room late at night, or at lunch hour at
work. They still want material that speaks to them, but it
has to speak to them in their language at the time they
want to listen. Modern learning is blended learning in
which online presentations, review, testing of material,
and feedback are seamlessly blended with the narrative of
the text. This revision is designed to improve what the
publisher calls the learning platform in both the content
presented and in the delivery of that content.
I think of this book as consisting of both the text and
the delivery system for the text. For the book to succeed,
the online delivery system has to deliver the material to
students in a manner that they can access both online and
in the physical book. The new reality of accessing books
online has driven important changes in the last edition,
and in this edition. Specifically, while the content and
pedagogical approach described above remain largely the
same, the delivery is different.
In the last two editions the learning platform was re-
fined, and all of the content, including end-of-chapter
questions, was made to line up directly with learning
­objectives. These learning objectives serve as the organi-
zational structure for the material. The learning objectives
themselves were broken down into further learning objec-
tives associated with concepts that are presented in bite-
sized portions of the text as part of the SmartBook offer.
viii
This now allows students the opportunity to master con-
cepts that support the larger picture no matter how they
access it in the Colander learning platform. Within
­McGraw-Hill’s Connect and SmartBook platforms, stu-
dents can learn the core building blocks online with in-
stant feedback; instructors can assess student learning data
and know what their students understand, and what they
don’t. With that information, they can devote class time to
those issues with which students are having problems.
In the previous two editions, the end-of-chapter ma-
terial was also restructured for online delivery: All of
the standard questions and problems were made auto-
gradable and integrated with the online experience.
Such integration allows students to move seamlessly
between homework problems and portions of the narra-
tive to get the information they need, when they need it.
This is a significant advance in pedagogy. Now, even
professors in large lecture classes can assign questions
and exercises at the end of chapters and provide feed-
back to students at the point of need.
While the new learning platforms made the teaching
of the building blocks easier, they presented a challenge
for my approach that emphasized the nuance of interpre-
tation as a key element of what students were to learn.
That discussion of nuance was scattered throughout the
text; it wasn’t a building block to be learned in one place.
Rather it was mortar to be learned over the course of the
entire semester. This learning goal did not come through
in the learning platform as strongly as it did in the text it-
self. While the modular learning platform worked well in
teaching a building block approach to models, it didn’t
work so well helping students understand the context of
the models. It provided the building blocks but not the
mortar. So the previous versions of my online learning
platforms emphasized models a bit more than I would
have liked and context a bit less.
The nuance material was still there, but it was not in-
tegrated into the learning platform as much as I thought it
should be. In previous editions, I did what I could to ac-
count for that. Specifically I added aspects of the book
that allowed professors who wanted to emphasize nuance
to do so. These included two sets of end-of-chapter ques-
tions, Issues to Ponder and Questions from Alternative
Perspectives, which have no “correct” answer, but instead
are designed to get the students to think. In a learning
environment that blends both online and in-person expe-
riences, these are the questions that can form the basis for
rich classroom discussions that engage the students with
broad issues as much as the online material engages them
with the building blocks.
In this edition I go a step further in integrating nuance
into the course. Specifically, I have essentially made
Preface
n­ uance its own general learning objective—a learning
objective that relates to the entire book. So in addition to
the learning objectives specific to individual chapters,
there is a general learning objective that is relevant to all
chapters. The general learning objective—the mortar
that holds the building blocks together—is: Know that to
relate models to the real world, you need to use a nuanced
approach.
For professors who want to include this learning ob-
jective in their course, I have written a prologue to the
student found on pages P-1 to P-5, just before Chapter 1.
In it I discuss the need for context and nuance in applying
the models, and introduce students to two methodological
tools that philosophers use to move from models to policy
positions. This prologue, what you might think of as
­Chapter 0, serves as the mortar and blueprint to guide stu-
dents in thinking critically about the models and their
­application. This short prologue, which can be assigned
along with Chapter 1, presents a general discussion of the
problem of context and nuance and introduces the general
learning objective.
Students are reminded of this general learning objec-
tive throughout the book in chapter discussions of nu-
anced issues, which are highlighted in SmartBook and
probes that focus on nuance. I also provide professors
with some guidance and suggestions on how to integrate
a discussion of values and ethics into the course, along
with a list of Connect questions and material in SmartBook
that deal with integrating values into the analysis. These
are to be found in the Instructor’s website for the book. For
those who want to emphasize critical thought and nuance
in the course, it is much easier to do so than before.
Specific Content Changes
to This Edition
Any new edition provides the possibility to update dis-
cussions and I have done so throughout the book, both in
updating references to events, and in examples. On a
mundane level I changed examples and products being
discussed. For example, there was an earlier discussion of
the supply and demand for CDs, which at one point in the
past seemed reasonable. CDs have gone the way of buggy
whips, and so the discussion was changed to chocolate,
which has a longer shelf life—there will always be
­demand for 80 percent dark chocolate, at least from me.
I also reviewed all the boxes, eliminating or updat-
ing those that were outdated, replacing them with new
boxes that capture some of the new ideas being dis-
cussed. For example, in Chapter 3 I added a box on
polycentric ­g overnment and the ideas of economist
 Preface ix

­ linor Ostrom, and in Chapter 8W I updated the discus-

E e­ leventh edition reviewers, whose insightful comments
sion of the farm program. kept me on track. Reviewers include:
I did the same with discussions in the text, adding up-
dates where needed. That led to substantial changes in Catherine M. Chambers Benjamin Leyden
some chapters. For example, President Trump’s changing University of Central University of Virginia
the narrative on trade meant some significant changes in Missouri Victoria Miller
Chapter 10 on trade were needed. I replaced the opening Frankie P. Albritton Jr. Akin Technical College
discussion of trade to include Trump’s criticism of Seminole State College ABM E. Nasir
free trade agreements and updated the discussion of WTO Paul Chambers North Carolina Central
trade negotiations and U.S. trade policy to account for the University of Central University
Trump presidency. The growing importance of platform Missouri Christina Ann Robinson
monopolies and network externalities led to substantial B. Andrew Chupp Central Connecticut
changes in Chapter 14 and the discussion of antitrust pol- Georgia Institute of State University
icy in Chapter 15. Chapter 17 on labor also was modified Technology
to account for developments in the information revolu- William Shambora
tion. I also added discussions of artificial intelligence and Diane Cunningham Ohio University
deep learning in both the micro and macro chapters. Los Angeles Valley College Mark Griffin Smith
These developments will likely have significant implica- Gregory E. DeFreitas Colorado College
tions for the economy in the coming decade, as AI and Hofstra University Don Uy-Barreta
deep learning do to mental labor what the Industrial John P. Finnigan De Anza College
­Revolution did to physical labor. Marist College Kenneth Woodward
Finally, there were a number of changes to allow the Bernhard Georg Gunter Saddleback College
introduction of nuanced understanding as a separate American University
learning objective. I added a discussion of Adam Smith’s
impartial spectator tool, and how in assessing policy, one In addition to the comments of the formal reviewers
must go beyond how it will benefit oneself, and concen- listed above, I have received helpful suggestions, encour-
trate on how it can be judged from society’s point of view. agement, and assistance from innumerable individuals
I encourage students to discuss contentious policy issues via e-mails, letters, symposia, and focus groups. Their
with others who approach the issues differently as a way help made this edition even stronger than its predecessor.
of advancing the discussion. They include James Wetzel, Virginia Commonwealth
University; Dmitry Shishkin, Georgia State University;
Enjoy! Amy Cramer, Pima Community College–West; Andrea
Terzi, Franklin College; Shelby Frost, Georgia State Uni-
In summary, this book differs from others in its distinc- versity; Doris Geide-Stevenson, Weber State University;
tive blend of nuance and no-nonsense modeling. Working James Chasey, Advanced Placement Economics Teaching
with models doesn’t involve nuance; it involves knowing Consultant and Homewood-Flossmoor High School
the models and their assumptions—questions about (ret.); David Tufte, Southern Utah University; Eric
models are right or wrong—and nuanced discussion of ­Sarpong, Georgia State University; Jim Ciecka, DePaul
applying the models where there are inevitably gray areas University; Fran Bradley, George School; Ron Olive,
where critical thought is needed. Seeing students navigate University of Massachusetts–Lowell; Rachel Kreier,
this gray area and arrive at a nuanced understanding of Hofstra University; Kenneth Elzinga, University of
­
economic principles gives me enormous joy. I hope it ­Virginia; Ben Leyden, University of Virginia; Poul Thøis
does for you as well. Madse, Danmarks Medie—OG Journalistehojskole; Rich
Tarmey, Colorado Mountain College; Michael Mandelberg,
People to Thank Stuart Webber, Trinity Lutheran College; Bob Rogers,
Let me conclude this preface by thanking the hundreds of Ashland University; Zackery Hansen, Southern Utah
people who have offered suggestions, comments, kudos, University; and Matt Gaffney, Missouri State University.
and criticism on this project since its inception. This book I want to give a special thank-you to the supplement
would not be what it is without their input. So many peo- authors and subject matter experts including Jennifer
ple have contributed to this text in so many ways that I Rester Savoie, Pearl River Community College; Susan
cannot thank everyone. So, to all the people who helped— Bell, Seminole State University; Per Norander, University
many, many thanks. I specifically want to thank the of North Carolina at Charlotte; Frankie P. Albritton Jr.,
x Preface
Seminole State University; and Kenneth Woodward,
­Saddleback College. They all did an outstanding job.
I’d also like to thank the economists who wrote the
alternative perspective questions. These include Ann
Mari May of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, John
Miller of Wheaton College, Dan Underwood of P ­ eninsula
College, Ric Holt of Southern Oregon University, and
Bridget Butkevich of George Mason University. I en-
joyed working with each of them, and while their views
often differed substantially, they were all united in want-
ing questions that showed economics as a pluralist field
that encourages students to question the text from all
­perspectives.
I have hired numerous students to check aspects of the
book, to read over my questions and answers to questions,
and to help proofread. For this edition, these include Reid
Smith, Amelia Pollard and Zhewei Yang. I thank them all.
A special thank-you for this edition goes to two peo-
ple. The first is Jenifer Gamber, whose role in the book
cannot be overestimated. She helped me clarify its vision
by providing research, critiquing expositions and often
improving them, and being a good friend. She has an
amazing set of skills, and I thank her for using them
to improve the book. The second is Christina Kouvelis,
senior product developer, who came into this project and
with her hard work, dedication, and superb ability made it
possible to get the book done on time. She and Jenifer are
two amazing women.
Next, I want to thank the entire McGraw-Hill team,
including Terri Schiesl, managing director; Anke Weekes,
director; Christine Vaughan, lead content project man-
ager; Bruce Gin, senior assessment project manager; Egzon
Shaqiri, designer; Bobby Pearson, marketing manager; Julia
­Blankenship, marketing specialist; and Doug Ruby, director
of digital content. All of them have done a superb job, for
which I thank them sincerely.
Finally, I want to thank Pat, my wife, and my sons,
Kasey and Zach, for helping me keep my work in per-
spective, and for providing a loving environment in which
to work.
 Distinguishing
Features
Margin Comments
Located throughout the text in the margin, these key take-
aways underscore and summarize the importance of the
material, at the same time helping students focus on the
most relevant topics critical to their understanding.
Margin Questions
These self-test questions are presented in the margin of
the chapter to enable students to determine whether the
preceding material has been understood and to reinforce
understanding before students read further. Answers to
Margin Questions are found at the end of each chapter.
Web Notes
This feature extends the text discussion onto the web.
Web Notes are denoted within the margins, and are
housed within Connect and featured in SmartBook.
Nuance Prologue and Questions
Nuanced aspects of economics are presented throughout
the book, and in a Prologue for the Student. In SmartBook,
nuance questions have been added that directly relate to
applying the models and the problems of integrating values
into the analysis. A guide to these questions can be found
on the Instructor Resource website.
Issues to Ponder
Each chapter ends with a set of Issues to Ponder questions
that are designed to encourage additional economic think-
ing and application.
Questions from Alternative
Perspectives
The end-of-chapter material includes a number of ques-
tions that ask students to assess economics from alterna-
tive perspectives. Specifically, six different approaches
are highlighted: Austrian, Post-Keynesian, Institutional-
ist, Radical, Feminist, and Religious. Below are brief
­descriptions of each group.
Austrian Economists
Austrian economists believe in methodological individu-
alism, by which they mean that social goals are best met
through voluntary, mutually beneficial interactions. Lack
of information and unsolvable incentive problems under-
mine the ability of government to plan, making the mar-
ket the best method for coordinating economic activity.
Austrian economists oppose state intrusion into private
property and private activities. They are not economists
from Austria; rather, they are economists from anywhere
who follow the ideas of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich
Hayek, two economists who were from Austria.
Austrian economists are sometimes classified as con-
servative, but they are more appropriately classified as
libertarians, who believe in liberty of individuals first and
in other social goals second. Consistent with their views,
they are often willing to support what are sometimes con-
sidered radical ideas, such as legalizing addictive drugs
or eliminating our current monetary system—ideas that
most mainstream economists would oppose. Austrian
economists emphasize the uncertainty in the economy and
the inability of a government controlled by self-­interested
politicians to undertake socially beneficial policy.
Institutionalist Economists
Institutionalist economists argue that any economic analy-
sis must involve specific considerations of institutions. The
lineage of Institutionalist economics begins with the pio-
neering work of Thorstein Veblen, John R. Commons, and
Wesley C. Mitchell. Veblen employed evolutionary analy-
sis to explore the role of institutions in directing and retard-
ing the economic process. He saw human behavior driven
by cultural norms and conveyed the way in which they
were with sardonic wit and penetrating insight, leaving us
with enduring metaphors such as the leisure class and con-
spicuous consumption. Commons argued that institutions
are social constructs that improve general welfare. Accord-
ingly, he established cooperative investigative programs to
support pragmatic changes in the legal structure of govern-
ment. Mitchell was a leader in developing economics as an
empirical study; he was a keen observer of the business
cycle and argued that theory must be informed by system-
atic attention to empirical data, or it was useless.
Contemporary Institutionalists employ the founders’
“trilogy”—empirically informed, evolutionary analysis,
xi
xii
directed toward pragmatic alteration of institutions shap-
ing economic outcomes—in their policy approach.
Radical Economists
Radical economists believe substantial equality-preferring
institutional changes should be implemented in our
­economic system. Radical economists evolved out of
Marxian economics. In their analysis, they focus on the
lack of equity in our current economic system and on in-
stitutional changes that might bring about a more equita-
ble system. Specifically, they see the current economic
system as one in which a few people—capitalists and
high-level managers—benefit enormously at the expense
of many people who struggle to make ends meet in jobs
that are unfulfilling or who even go without work at
times. They see the fundamental instability and irratio-
nality of the capitalist system at the root of a wide array
of social ills that range from pervasive inequality to alien-
ation, racism, sexism, and imperialism. Radical econo-
mists often use a class-oriented analysis to address these
issues and are much more willing to talk about social
conflict and tensions in our society than are mainstream
economists.
A policy favored by many Radicals is the establish-
ment of worker cooperatives to replace the corporation.
Radicals argue that such worker cooperatives would see
that the income of the firm is more equitably allocated.
Likewise, Radical economists endorse policies, such as
universal health care insurance, that conform to the ethic
of “putting people before profits.”
Feminist Economists
Feminist economics offers a substantive challenge to the
content, scope, and methodology of mainstream econom-
ics. Feminist economists question the boundaries of what
we consider economics to be and examine social arrange-
ments surrounding provisioning. Feminist economists
have many different views, but all believe that in some
way traditional economic analysis misses many important
issues pertaining to women.
Feminist economists study issues such as how the in-
stitutional structure tends to direct women into certain
types of jobs (generally low-paying jobs) and away from
other types of jobs (generally high-paying jobs). They
draw our attention to the unpaid labor performed by
women throughout the world and ask, “What would GDP
look like if women’s work were given a value and
­included?” They argue for an expansion in the content of
Preface
economics to include women as practitioners and as
­worthy of study and for the elimination of the masculine
bias in mainstream economics. Is there such a bias? To
see it, simply compare the relative number of women in
your economics class to the relative number of women at
your school. It is highly likely that your class has relatively
more men. Feminist economists want you to ask why that
is, and whether anything should be done about it.
Religious Economists
Religion is the oldest and, arguably, the most influential
institution in the world—be it Christianity, Islam, Juda-
ism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any of the many other reli-
gions in the world. Modern science, of which economics
is a part, emphasizes the rational elements of thought. It
attempts to separate faith and normative issues from ra-
tional analysis in ways that some religiously oriented
economists find questionable. The line between a reli-
gious and nonreligious economist is not hard and fast; all
economists bring elements of their ethical considerations
into their analysis. But those we call “religious econo-
mists” integrate the ethical and normative issues into eco-
nomic analysis in more complex ways than the ways
presented in the text.
Religiously oriented economists have a diversity of
views; some believe that their views can be integrated
reasonably well into standard economics, while others
see the need for the development of a distinctive faith-
based methodology that focuses on a particular group of
normative concerns centered on issues such as human
dignity and caring for the poor.
Post-Keynesian Economists
Post-Keynesian economists believe that uncertainty is a
central issue in economics. They follow J. M. Keynes’ ap-
proach more so than do mainstream economists in em-
phasizing institutional imperfections in the economy and
the importance of fundamental uncertainty that rational-
ity cannot deal with. They agree with Institutionalists that
the study of economics must emphasize and incorporate
the importance of social and political structure in deter-
mining market outcomes.
While their view about the importance of uncertainty
is similar to the Austrian view, their policy response to
that uncertainty is quite different. They do not see uncer-
tainty as eliminating much of government’s role in the
economy; instead, they see it leading to policies in which
government takes a larger role in guiding the economy.
Supplements
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 Brief
Contents

part I I NTRODUCTION: THINKING

 MARKET STRUCTURE
13
Perfect Competition 272
LIKE AN ECONOMIST 14
Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition 293
11 Economics and Economic Reasoning 4 Appendix: The Algebra of Competitive and
2 The Production Possibility Model, Trade, and Monopolistic Firms 319
Globalization 25 15
Oligopoly and Antitrust Policy 321
Appendix: Graphish: The Language of Graphs 44 16
Real-World Competition and Technology 340
3 Economic Institutions 53
Appendix: The History of Economic Systems 73 FACTOR MARKETS
4 Supply and Demand 78 17
Work and the Labor Market 359
5 Using Supply and Demand 101 Appendix: Derived Demand 383
Appendix: Algebraic Representation of Supply, 17W Nonwage and Asset Income: Rents, Profits, and
Demand, and Equilibrium 117 Interest 389
18
Who Gets What? The ­Distribution of Income 390
part II MICROECONOMICS
CHOICE AND DECISION MAKING
THE POWER OF TRADITIONAL 19
The Logic of Individual Choice:
ECONOMIC MODELS The Foundation of Supply and Demand 416
6 Describing Supply and Demand: Elasticities 124 Appendix: Indifference Curve Analysis 436
7 Taxation and Government Intervention 144 20
Game Theory, Strategic ­Decision Making, and
8 Market Failure versus ­Government Failure 165 ­Behavioral Economics 441
8W Politics and Economics: The Case of Agricultural Appendix: Game Theory and Oligopoly 462
Markets 187
MODERN ECONOMIC THINKING
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC 21
Thinking Like a Modern ­Economist 466
POLICY ISSUES 22
Behavioral Economics and Modern Economic
Policy 492
9 Comparative Advantage, Exchange Rates,
and Globalization 188
23
Microeconomic Policy, ­Economic Reasoning,
and Beyond 511
10
International Trade Policy 207

PRODUCTION AND COST ANALYSIS

11 Production and Cost Analysis I 229
12 Production and Cost Analysis II 249
Appendix: Isocost/Isoquant Analysis 267

xvi
 Contents
Trade and Comparative Advantage 32
PART I
Markets, Specialization, and Growth 33
The Benefits of Trade 34
INTRODUCTION:
Globalization and the Law of One Price 36
THINKING LIKE Globalization 36
AN ECONOMIST Exchange Rates and Comparative Advantage 38
The Law of One Price 38
Globalization and the Timing of Benefits of Trade 39
11 Economics and Economic Reasoning 4
Conclusion 39
What Economics Is 5
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
Scarcity 5
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics 6
Margin Questions 40–43
A Guide to Economic Reasoning 6
Appendix: Graphish: The Language of Graphs 44
Marginal Costs and Marginal Benefits 8
The Economic Decision Rule 8
Economics and Passion 8 3 Economic Institutions 53
Opportunity Cost 9
Economic Systems 54
Economic Forces, Social Forces, and Political Forces 11
How Markets Work 54
Economic and Market Forces 11
What’s Good about the Market? 55
Social and Political Forces 11
Capitalism and Socialism 55
Using Economic Insights 13
Economic Institutions in a Market Economy 58
The Invisible Hand Theorem 14
Business 59
Economic Theory and Stories 15
Households 61
Economic Institutions 15
The Roles of Government 62
Economic Policy Options 16
Government as an Actor 62
Objective Policy Analysis 17
Government as a Referee 64
Policy and Social and Political Forces 20
Specific Roles for Government 65
Conclusion 20 Market Failures and Government Failures 67
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions Global Institutions 68
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to Global Corporations 68
Margin Questions 21–24 Coordinating Global Issues 68
Conclusion 69
2 The Production Possibility Model, Trade, Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
and Globalization 25 from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Margin Questions 69–72
The Production Possibility Model 26
Appendix: The History of Economic Systems 73
A Production Possibility Curve for an Individual 26
Increasing Opportunity Costs of the Trade-Off 27
Comparative Advantage 28 4 Supply and Demand 78
Efficiency 29
Demand 78
Distribution and Productive Efficiency 30
The Law of Demand 79
Examples of Shifts in the PPC 31
The Demand Curve 79

xvii
xviii Contents

Shifts in Demand versus Movements

PART II
along a Demand Curve 80
Some Shift Factors of Demand 81
The Demand Table 82
MICROECONOMICS
From a Demand Table to a Demand Curve 82
Individual and Market Demand Curves 83 THE POWER OF TRADITIONAL
Supply 85 ECONOMIC MODELS
The Law of Supply 85
The Supply Curve 86
Shifts in Supply versus Movements along a Supply
6 Describing Supply and Demand:
Curve 87 Elasticities 124
Shift Factors of Supply 88 Price Elasticity 124
The Supply Table 88 What Information Price Elasticity Provides 125
From a Supply Table to a Supply Curve 88 Classifying Demand and Supply as Elastic
Individual and Market Supply Curves 88 or Inelastic 125
The Interaction of Supply and Demand 89 Elasticity Is Independent of Units 126
Equilibrium 90 Calculating Elasticities 126
The Graphical Interaction of Supply and Demand 91 Other Examples 128
What Equilibrium Isn’t 91 Elasticity Is Not the Same as Slope 128
Political and Social Forces and Equilibrium 92 Five Terms to Describe Elasticity 130
Shifts in Supply and Demand 93 Substitution and Elasticity 130
A Limitation of Supply/Demand Analysis 95 Substitution and Demand 131
Conclusion 95 How Substitution Factors Affect Specific
Decisions 132
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises,
Questions from Alternative Perspectives, Elasticity, Total Revenue, and Demand 133
Issues to Ponder, Answers to Total Revenue along a Demand Curve 134
Margin Questions 96–100 Income and Cross-Price Elasticity 135
Income Elasticity of Demand 135
Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand 136
5 Using Supply and Demand 101 Some Examples 137
Real-World Supply and Demand The Power of Supply/Demand Analysis 138
Applications 101 When Should a Supplier Not Raise Price? 138
Government Intervention: Price Ceilings Elasticity and Shifting Supply and Demand 139
and Price Floors 104 Conclusion 139
Price Ceilings 105 Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
Price Floors 106 from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Government Intervention: Excise Taxes Margin Questions 140–143
and Tariffs 108
Government Intervention: Quantity 7 Taxation and Government
Restrictions 109 Intervention 144
Third-Party-Payer Markets 111
Producer and Consumer Surplus 144
Conclusion 112
Burden of Taxation 146
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Who Bears the Burden of a Tax? 148
Questions from Alternative Perspectives, Tax Incidence and Current Policy Debates 151
Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Government Intervention as Implicit Taxation 152
Margin Questions 112–116
Price Ceilings and Floors 152
Appendix: Algebraic Representation of Supply, Demand, The Difference between Taxes and Price
and Equilibrium 117 Controls 153
 Contents
Rent Seeking, Politics, and Elasticities 154
Inelastic Demand and Incentives to Restrict Supply 154
Inelastic Supplies and Incentives to Restrict Prices 157
The Long-Run/Short-Run Problem of Price
Controls 158
Conclusion 160
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Margin Questions 160–164
8 Market Failure versus ­Government
Failure 165
Externalities 166
Effects of Positive and Negative Externalities 167
Alternative Methods of Dealing with
Externalities 168
Direct Regulation 169
Incentive Policies 170
Voluntary Reductions 171
The Optimal Policy 172
Public Goods 172
The Market Value of a Public Good 173
Excludability and the Costs of Pricing 175
Informational and Moral Hazard Problems 176
Signaling and Screening 177
Policies to Deal with Informational Problems 177
Government Failure and Market Failures 180
Conclusion 182
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Margin Questions 182–186
8W Politics and Economics: The Case of
Agricultural Markets 187 and 8W-1
The Good/Bad Paradox in Agriculture 8W-3
The Long-Run Decline of Farming 8W-3
The Short-Run Cyclical Problem Facing Farmers 8W-4
The Difficulty of Coordinating Farm Production 8W-4
Ways around the Good/Bad Paradox 8W-4
The General Rule of Political Economy 8W-5
Four Price Support Options 8W-5
Supporting the Price by Regulatory Measures 8W-6
Providing Economic Incentives to Reduce Supply 8W-8
Subsidizing the Sale of the Good 8W-9
Buying Up and Storing, Giving Away, or Destroying
the Good 8W-9
Which Group Prefers Which Option? 8W-10
xix
Economics, Politics, and Real-World Policies 8W-10
Interest Groups 8W-11
International Issues 8W-12
Conclusion 8W-12
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Margin Questions 8W-13–8W-16
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY
ISSUES
9 Comparative Advantage, Exchange
Rates, and Globalization 188
The Principle of Comparative Advantage 188
The Gains from Trade 189
Dividing Up the Gains from Trade 190
Why Economists and Laypeople Differ in Their Views
of Trade 192
Gains Are Often Stealth 192
Opportunity Cost Is Relative 192
Trade Is Broader Than Manufactured Goods 192
Trade Has Distributional Effects 193
Sources of U.S. Comparative Advantage 194
Some Concerns about the Future 196
Inherent and Transferable Sources of
Comparative Advantages 196
The Law of One Price 196
How the United States Gained and Is Now Losing
Sources of Comparative Advantage 197
Methods of Equalizing Trade Balances 197
Determination of Exchange Rates and Trade 198
Exchange Rates and Trade 200
Some Complications in Exchange Rates 201
Conclusion 202
Summary, Key Terms, Questions and Exercises, Questions
from Alternative Perspectives, Issues to Ponder, Answers to
Margin Questions 202–206
10 International Trade Policy 207
The Nature and Patterns of Trade 207
Increasing but Fluctuating World Trade 207
Differences in the Importance of Trade 208
What and with Whom the United States Trades 208
Debtor and Creditor Nations 210
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To go around, to see things from the inside, to get into the swim was
Mame’s ambition and she naïvely confessed it to Lady Violet. This
new friend did not discourage it. She did, indeed, seem a little
amused, but not in the way of patronage or ill nature. Perhaps it was
because this quaint thing from a land where Lady Violet herself had
enjoyed jolly times was so liberally endowed with the quality that
most appealed to her in man or woman, horse or hound. It was the
quality best summed up by the good word “pluck,” which from their
first chance meeting had inspired her with an honest desire to help
this little American.
Something about Miss Amethyst De Rance had certainly touched
Lady Violet. This girl was as different from the run of Americans with
whom she occasionally rubbed shoulders on their native continent as
chalk is different from cheese. And among her compatriots whom
Lady Violet knew in London, not one in the least resembled her.
Obviously her general education was limited, but this girl was as live
as a fire. She was very original; and her decidedly pretty head was
full of ideas. Even if in the main they were directed to her own
advancement, why blame her? But it was her way of saying things
that appealed most strongly to this amateur of the human comedy.
Lady Violet was a connoisseur, who in her spare time collected odd
types of her fellow creatures, as other people collect postage
stamps, foreign coins, pewter or old Sheffield. Moreover, having a
keen, if rather freakish sense of fun, it pleased her sometimes to play
one “type” off against another.
All the same, there was no young woman in London society more
genuinely popular. If she could be, and frequently was, mischievous
in a subtle way, she had a knack of helping lame dogs over stiles.
Providing she liked a person, and she sometimes liked them for the
oddest reasons, such as the shape of their ears, or because their
toes turned in, she would take quite a lot of trouble over them.
This afternoon the funny little American she had met at the Carlton
ten days ago, and who now graced her “collection” as if she had
been a scarce butterfly with rare and attractive markings, was
sending up a rather pathetic social S. O. S. Miss Du Rance, who was
really pretty if she wouldn’t “make up” and wear the wrong sort of
clothes, had already let her in on the ground floor in the matter of
confidences. The girl had, it seemed, ambitions, which she had
precious little chance of being able to gratify.
Lady Violet, however, did not tell her so. She was much too good-
hearted for that. From the first she had been attracted by the child.
Something looked out of those good grey eyes. Already this new
friend’s worldly wise brain was at work.
Mame was encouraged to prattle artlessly on. There was no display
of vulgar curiosity; but in the most natural way Lady Violet probed
the secrets of her past. The life on the farm, four miles from
Cowbarn, Iowa; the burning of the midnight candle to fit herself for
the larger life; the good Miss Jenkins; the secret study of
stenography; the escape to the Independent office; the arrival of
Aunt Lou’s legacy; the flight to New York; the police raid; the trip to
Europe—warmed by sympathy, Mame told the story of her life. And
as told in the vivid native idiom, which, to the dweller in another
world, had all the charm of novelty, the story almost became an epic.
Yes, she was worth helping, this rather pathetic child. Lady Violet
fixed on her again that masked look which had a strange power of
seeing through the most complex people. But this little go-getter—
her own priceless word—was not complex at all. She was perfectly
easy to read. And yet so interesting. In fact she was something new.
Miss Du Rance had just told the story of her life, when a tall, slightly
faded-looking woman of forty came into the room.
The first thing Mame noted about this lady was the way in which her
hair was done. She must have a peach of a maid. It was turning a
most becoming shade of grey; it was abundant and it had an air of
great elegance. That indeed was the quality which dominated the
lady herself; an air of great elegance. She was subdued in dress and
in manner; she moved like some extremely dignified and well-
nurtured cat; yet there was nothing about her of that passive hostility
which caused Mame so actively to dislike the Tabbies of Fotheringay
House.
Lady Violet addressed this rather formal yet most agreeable dame
as Cousin Edith. “Let me introduce Miss Du Rance of Chicago,” she
said to Cousin Edith with a pensive smile.
Mame returned vigorously Cousin Edith’s bow and then offered an
equally vigorous hand. “Very pleased to meet you, ma’am,” said
Mame cordially. Her democratic spirit was a little doubtful of the
“ma’am” but she was using company manners, so it seemed all right.
“Of Chicago,” however, troubled her. “Cowbarn, Iowa.” She hastened
with a frank smile to correct Lady Violet.
“Near Chicago,” said the hostess sotto voce to Cousin Edith. For
some reason, which was not at all clear, she seemed determined to
locate Mame in a region wherein Mame had no desire to be located.
Iowa was good enough for her, but evidently in London society
Illinois was considered more Chick.
She took quite a liking to Cousin Edith. That lady had a nice flow of
talk that was very amiable and kindly. Unlike Lady Violet’s it was not
syncopated nor was it full of slang; it had no witty twists and turns,
but it was well worth listening to. Cousin Edith appeared to have
seen and known quite a lot, but she lacked Lady Violet’s force and
humour and her modern touch. All the same she was light in hand
and had the happy knack of meeting people a little more than half
way, which could not be said for most Britishers.
Mame was getting on famously with Cousin Edith when a Mrs.
Creber Newsum was announced. Mrs. Creber Newsum was tall,
blonde, very blue-eyed, very fragile. Distinction seemed to stand off
from her manner in festoons. Like her fair hair and her fine chin her
fluting voice seemed to be raised a shade too high.
The moment Mrs. Creber Newsum entered the room, and even
before being introduced to her, which she almost immediately was,
Mame instinctively knew this was a kind of dame of whom she would
do well to be careful. She had a subtle feeling before a word had
passed between them that the newcomer was one of her own
countrywomen. And in that case she shrewdly suspected that as far
as Mrs. Creber Newsum was concerned she had better go slow. By
now Miss Amethyst Du Rance knew enough of Europe to be aware
that in the eyes of a Mrs. Creber Newsum, with her Fifth Avenue,
Long Island, flat-in-Paris, villa-in-Italy style, she was very much, at
present, “the wrong kind of American.”
However, she was not always going to be the wrong kind of
American. But for the moment, knowing as much as she did, and
being able to guess at what she didn’t, she intended to imitate the
motions of a character famous in the Bible. She would walk
delicately.
Miss Du Rance was not flustered at all. She had been through the
fire at Clanborough House, she had learned a few things and she
had the moral support of an influential and an able friend. Just how
able that friend was she discovered within the next two minutes.
“Mrs. Creber Newsum,” said Lady Violet, in a voice that sounded
quite impressive, “this is my friend Miss Du Rance of Chicago.”
It was odd, but Mame perceived in a flash the tactical value of the
“Chicago.” Somehow it seemed to account for her in a general way,
whereas the Iowa, let alone the Cowbarn, might have accounted for
her much too definitely, at any rate in the eyes of Mrs. Creber
Newsum. Beyond a doubt, Lady Violet was clever.
Mrs. Creber Newsum glanced at Mame, more in sorrow than in
anger. Then she offered her hand as if it rather hurt her to do so; and
then she withdrew it as if the touch of Mame’s fingers was a shade
more than her spotless gloves could bear. Mame felt that her
compatriot—she couldn’t tell exactly how she knew Mrs. Creber
Newsum was an American, but she would have bet a hundred and
fifty dollars that she was—was slightly overdoing the aristocracy
racket. On Fifth Avenue it might have seemed all right; but it was so
consciously “high-grade,” that it had a tendency to get on the nerves
of common folks.
The introduction had just been got over with real queenliness on the
one side—Mrs. Creber Newsum simply couldn’t help being queenly
—and real discretion on the other, when Mame surprised the
broadest smile she had yet seen on the averted face of Lady Violet.
Plainly her friend was enjoying the moment hugely. What there was
to be secretly so amused about, Mame couldn’t guess. But the smile
of Lady Violet set her thinking.
Mrs. Creber Newsum sat slowly on an ottoman, about as far from
her small compatriot as she could conveniently get. And then she
said in a rather high but agreeable voice, although much troubled
with culture, “Have you been in England long, Miss Du Rance?”
“Five weeks and four days,” said Mame.
“Five weeks and four days,” Mrs. Creber Newsum repeated softly.
“An interesting experience for you, is it not?”
Mame was not to be drawn. The conversation as far as it touched
Mrs. Creber Newsum and herself seemed to languish. But neither
Cousin Edith nor Lady Violet was the kind of person who would
permit it to languish generally. They had it well in hand. It could be
wound up and set going just as soon as they chose, but Lady Violet,
at least, wanted to see what the two Americans would make of each
other.
As a matter of fact she knew. And there was no need to wait for her
prescience to be demonstrated. But for some reason, these differing
types greatly amused her. Perhaps she rather wanted to see what
the homely little barnyard chick would make of the superlative
cosmopolitan peacock. She knew exactly what the peacock had
made already of the little chick.
Mame’s quick brain was busy even if her tongue was inert. She
would get no good of Mrs. Creber Newsum and she must be
particularly careful that the high-flyer did not call her bluff. As she sat
listening to the light and clever talk of these new friends she
determined from now on to watch her step with unceasing vigilance.
The chances that were coming her way must be stepping stones to
her great ambition; but she must expect no help and no mercy from
the Mrs. Creber Newsums of the earth.
Cousin Edith soon began to address mild and non-committal
nothings to Miss Du Rance, to ease, as it were, Chicago’s burden in
the presence of Cosmopolis. Mame felt humbly grateful. Cousin
Edith was a kind of natural dear. And Mame was sure she had as
much culture as Mrs. Creber Newsum, but that she preferred to
conceal it rather than to cut a dash. But what really interested Miss
Du Rance was not the talk of Cousin Edith. She was responsive and
polite, but one ear was kept open for the cavortings of Mrs. Creber
Newsum and Lady Violet.
It was wonderful, the assurance and the calm with which Lady Violet
lit on highbrow subjects. Duse, Cæsar Franck, Tchehov, Marcel
Proust, all that kind of dope; she could take Mrs. Creber Newsum
over the course without putting a foot wrong. She had no airs about it
either. But she could ladle out highbrow eyewash till the cows came
home, merely as a matter of course. Mrs. Creber Newsum, however,
seemed to inflate. Mame resolved to study this kind of cross talk. A
useful trick to learn.
Pretty soon other folks began to pile in and, from Mame’s viewpoint,
things grew still more entertaining. Lady So-and-So; Mrs. This; Miss
That. She did not always catch their names, or at least her memory,
usually so good, was not always able to retain them. Some she was
introduced to; some she was not; but no matter whom she found
herself up against, she was careful to maintain a Biblical style of
progress.
Most of these dashers thought her dull, no doubt. Let them. She
must play for safety. Some of them eyed her curiously; they couldn’t
quite conceal a “Hulloa-what-are-you-doing-here?” sort of look. But
the fairly large room began to fill. And the fuller it became the more
at ease grew Mame. There was a better chance to take cover.
This crowd was worth observing at close range. Mame did not let the
opportunity slip. The proper study of mankind is man. According to
the office calendar some wise guy had pulled that in the reign of
Queen Anne. Mame had already developed considerable powers in
that direction. She was getting quite expert at sizing folks up.
Socially speaking, she now divided her fellow creatures into two
classes. Class A, on the level. Class B, four-flushers. Nothing had
surprised her more in New York than the prevalence of Class B.
They were everywhere. And, as far as she was concerned, they
were highly dangerous people. One of their chief delights was to call
the bluff of their competitors.
London also suffered from Class B. It was less dominant, however,
than on the other side of the Atlantic. And for the most part, in
London they were four-flushers with a difference. They saw bigger,
they carried more sail; perhaps they were older hands at the game.
Even Lady Violet’s smart drawing room was not wholly free of Class
B. As the place got fuller and fuller and the tea and cake began to
circulate, the other sex made a bit of a show. Mame welcomed them
as a pleasing diversion. She gave far less thought to men as a rule
than she gave to women. Somehow she felt that she had so much
less to fear from them.
London, she had heard, was rather famous for its men. They were
said to wear their clothes better than any in the world. That might be
so. But among those who blew in upon 16b Half Moon Street this
afternoon were one or two whose clothes ought not to have been
worn by anybody. Artistic johns, no doubt. One in particular, large,
shambling, big-kneed, loud-voiced, had a regular Fifth of November
appearance.
Mame was so struck by him that she asked her right-hand
neighbour, a very knowledgeable girl who unmistakably belonged to
Class A and who was full of natural elegance, who he was.
“Shelton France Mackelland, the Canadian poet,” the girl informed
her.
“A Canuck, is he?” She wondered how he dared.
“Don’t you know his famous volume of poems, The Old Shack?”
Mame confessed that she did not.
“I adore them myself.” The girl, who was very pretty and quite
simple, spoke with an unpremeditated innocence that Mame liked
but deplored. Class A girls of this sort made it altogether too easy for
Class B people to get away with it.
“No use for Canucks.” Mame looked towards Shelton France
Mackelland with open hostility. “They are the worst kind of tinhorns
mostly.”
Sweetly and gravely the girl begged Mame’s pardon. This odd,
fierce, untamed little American was using what to her was a foreign
language.
Before Mame could fully expound what her attitude was towards the
Canucks of the earth, a young man of a different sort bore down
upon her with a plate of cakes. He was the identical Bill whom Mame
had admired so much when she had first seen him two weeks ago.
This afternoon he was looking nicer than ever. A picture of health
and comeliness, he was doing enormous credit to his tailor. And his
manners were most engagingly frank. Even in the eyes of an
observer severely democratic they hadn’t a suspicion of “lugs.”
“I like that one,” said Mame, after the bearer of the cakes had
passed on. She bit a piece out of her recently acquired bun and
found brandy in the heart of it. “If I was falling in love I’ll say he’d be
the baby for me.”
The friendly neighbour glanced at her in mild but furtive wonder.
“I didn’t get his name?” said Mame interrogatively.
“That’s my cousin Kidderminster.”
“Kidderminster, is it?” In what connection had she heard the name?
She suddenly remembered. “I guess he’s some relation of Lady
Violet’s.”
“Her brother.”
For a reason Mame could not have explained her heart gave a little
jump. “That’s bully,” she murmured. And then she went on, less
perhaps from a desire for information than to divert attention from
her own enthusiasm. “Then you, I s’pose, are Lady Violet’s cousin?”
“One of many,” said the girl. “Violet has any amount of cousins.
Simply heaps and heaps of relations.”
“Plenty of influence?” The true meaning of that mystic word was now
being revealed to Mame.
“Yes, in a way, one would say she had. But she’s got any amount of
brains, as well, you know.”
Mame was quite sure that Lady Violet had.
“Everybody thinks her so clever.”
“Earns a big income, I guess.”
“I believe so. And perfectly wonderful how she gets about. Goes
everywhere. Knows everybody.”
“Pulls the big stuff.”
“I beg your pardon.” A simple sort of tulip, this girl.
“Kinda got all the strings in her hand,” said Mame, trying to be lucid.
“Most of them, I think. Anyway she has a tremendously good time.”
The folks began to get a bit thinner, to diminish by twos and threes.
Mame, having had a most entertaining afternoon, decided not to
outstay her welcome. She rose and crossed to Lady Violet, who was
talking very quick French to a foreign-looking bozo, with an imperial
and a braided jacket, who stood peering over his teacup into her
eyes.
“Can I come and see you again?” Mame offered a white glove, in
which she took considerable pride, at the precise angle she had
discovered to be fashionable.
“Oh, please, please!” Lady Violet spoke as if she really meant it.
“And quite soon, you know.”
The cheery warmth of the words left Mame with a feeling that she
was taking leave of a real friend.
 XXII
WHEN Mame had stepped into the lift outside the door of 16b, by
pure coincidence she found it occupied already by the tall,
immaculate top-hatted form of Bill. It was a piece of luck. She had
taken quite a fancy to this young man and was ready to seize a
chance of improving the acquaintance.
“I hope you enjoyed yourself,” he said, with hearty and cheerful
politeness.
Miss Du Rance left him no sort of doubt upon that point. “Lady
Violet’s your sister, ain’t she?”
Bill said she was. Further he remarked in genial brotherly fashion: “A
good sort, old Vi! And clever as blazes, you know. Got clean away
with all the brains of our family.”
Mame offered no comment, but she felt somehow that it was highly
probable. Bill, with all his charm and manliness, made no pretence at
intellect. But in the opinion of Miss Du Rance he had better things to
show.
When they reached the ground floor and found themselves in the
vestibule, Bill said, “Can I get you a taxi or anything?”
“Are you taxi-ing yourself?” inquired the judicious Mame.
“No, I’m hitting the pike.” Bill was proud of his American.
“Same here. Which way you going?”
“Along Piccadilly as far as St. James’s Street.”
Mame was going along Piccadilly as far as the Circus. They might
walk together if he didn’t mind.
Bill said he was enchanted. Perhaps he was. There was nothing in
his manner to suggest the contrary. An amusing little puss. She
seemed different from all the other girls he knew. He must ask Vi
what part of the States she came from. Perhaps he might have
asked the amusing little puss herself had he not been kept so busy
answering the questions she put to him.
The number of questions Bill had to answer in their pleasant saunter
up the street, and across the road, and by the Green Park railings
was astonishing. But he didn’t mind at all. In fact he rather liked it.
She was as fresh as paint. And simply rippling with intelligence. No
end of punch in her, too. Yes, she was altogether different from the
other girls he knew. As for her comically expressive phrases, she
sort of fired them off, a hundred to the minute, like some jolly old
Maxim gun.
At the top of Saint James’s Street, they came to a stop and Bill
remarked: “I get off here.”
Miss Du Rance looked a trifle disappointed.
“Goin’ into my pothouse to play a game at snooker. Into that funny
old box, yonder, with the bow window.” Bill’s hand indicated Ward’s
Club just opposite.
Somehow, yet without saying so, little Miss Du Rance, the quaint and
charming American, was able to convey that to her mind for such an
upstanding young fellow to spend a fair spring evening in that way
was a pity.
“Daresay she’s right,” mused Bill. A bit of a thought reader, Bill.
“I’m going as far as the Circus,” said the droll minx.
It really was such a fine evening that Bill suddenly decided that he
might walk as far as the Circus for the good of his health.
When the young man had been steered in safety past the dangerous
corner, the ply of questions began again.
Did he like living in London? What was his favourite flower? Did he
care for jazz music? Who was his favourite author? Wasn’t it just a
bore to be a blood-peer? Did he like fishing better than gunning? Or
did he like gunning better than fishing? He played polo of course?
How did he like the Prince of Wales? What did he think of soldiering?
By the way, what was the name of his regiment? She had heard, but
had forgotten.
“The Pinks.”
“Why were they called the Pinks?”
“A sort of rival show to the Blues.”
“But why the Blues?”
Bill shook his head and laughed. “Why anything?”
“Yes—why anything?”
“Had he got a decoration?”
As a matter of fact he had several. And a little shamefacedly he
admitted it.
Then why didn’t he wear them?
People didn’t wear their decorations except on full-dress occasions.
“If I had a V. C.,” said Miss Du Rance, “I should just wear it any old
time. And King George himself wouldn’t stop me.”
Without going so far as to offer contradiction, Bill seemed a little
inclined to doubt it.
Howbeit that was neither here nor there. And their walk was most
enjoyable. Bill was kept in a ripple of amusement. This little Miss Du
Rance was the livest thing out. As for her ply of questions it was so
unexpected that it never became tiresome. Perhaps it was because
she was so nailingly pretty. Those serious grey eyes were as good
as anything he had seen in a month of Sundays.
When they got to the Tube in Piccadilly Circus said Miss Du Rance,
in whose voice was regret: “I must leave you now. You can go back
to your snooker. But I am just awfully pleased and proud to have met
you.” She held forth a neat white glove. “I do hope we shall meet
again.”
Bill said, as he grasped the white glove fervently: “We must—if you
do think so.”
“I don’t say what I don’t think.” The sternness of Miss Du Rance was
perfectly killing.
Bill, who was still enjoying every moment of her, ventured to hope
that she didn’t. And as an earnest of that he went on to ask,
tentatively, whether she cared for dancing.
“I’ll say yes.”
“That’s splendid! We must get Vi to arrange a party one afternoon for
the Orient Dance Club.”
“When?”
Bill was hardly prepared to be picked up in that way. Such
businesslike promptitude was a threat to his gravity. “One day next
week if it can be managed and it’ll be convenient to you.”
Next week, any old day, would be quite convenient to Miss Du
Rance. At that they left it.
 XXIII
WAYS and means were still a problem for Mame. The one hundred
and fifty dollars, which had dropped like manna from the sky, were
not going to carry her far. One cannot live on the air of London,
England, solid though it may be compared with the champagne of
New York. Even in that exhilarating climate one needs plenty of
“dough” to carry on from day to day.
Miss Du Rance was by way of having quite a lot of success. Socially
she had gone much further than she could have dared to hope in so
short a time. Her foot was now planted well on the ladder, but she
must take care lest she climb to an altitude a little too dizzy. It is so
easy to lose one’s head.
Shrewd to the bone, a true daughter of the Middle West, she felt she
had better call a halt and look around. It had been a rare bit of luck to
strike these friends, but the margin of her resources was so narrow
that unless she could add to it pretty soon, and also find other means
of income, she would not be able to stay the course.
The situation was again growing serious. Those few providential
dollars were already melting like snow. True, she now felt entitled to
count on another draft from Elmer P. at an early date, but precisely
when it would come she didn’t know. Besides even when it arrived it
was not going to last very long. No, it would be wrong to shirk the
fact that the margin upon which she was working was uncomfortably
small.
This fact came directly home to her, when, about three days after her
walk with Bill along Piccadilly, she received a hurried line from Lady
Violet, suggesting that on that day week they should make up a party
for tea and dancing at the Orient Club, Knightsbridge. If Miss Du
Rance cared for that sort of thing she might find it rather amusing.
As it happened few girls cared more for it than Mame. Even in her
primitive Cowbarn epoch, an occasional dance with the best and
brightest of the boys had been her favourite, indeed her only, means
of recreation. Moreover, in New York a certain amount of time had
been given to the cultivation of the art. She had always felt it to be
within the range of her lightly tripping toes to tread a measure in the
best company. Dancing harmonised with her vitality and her love of
movement. Had she not seriously considered having herself trained
for vaudeville?
Keen as she was to fall in with Lady Violet’s suggestion, she was
also wise enough to scent the peril. One way or another it would
mean further expenditure that she really could not afford. The
position was rather maddening. Her future, as she saw it, as she had
planned it, as she had fully determined that it should be, lay with
these influential and attractive folks. Perhaps she was a little snob,
but this sort of life quite spoiled one for any other.
Still, money was needed to live it. Money was needed all the time.
Unless one knew how to get it regularly and in good sums one would
surely be wise to turn aside from the lures of English society.
Instinctively Mame felt that she ought not to accept Lady Violet’s
invitation. She would be getting into deeper water than she cared
about. Delightful as the sun and the ripples were upon the waves,
she was nothing like a strong enough swimmer at present to trust
herself to that treacherous sea. Yet, alas, there was a second
instinct, equally powerful, which recalled a favourite text in the office
calendar: There is a Tide.
That fly-marked old calendar had a wonderful knack of turning out to
be true. There was a Tide, not a doubt of it. And Mame Durrance
was poised upon the top, but so precariously that if she didn’t watch
out she would find herself in difficulties; for at present she had not
learned to swim beyond a very few strokes. But she was there all
right, on the crest of the wave. And somehow she felt the power
rising within her to breast those waters. She would sure be the worst
fool alive if now she went back on her chances.
 XXIV
A WEEK passed. Miss Du Rance taxi’d again to Half Moon Street;
this time with a brand new pair of dancing slippers gracing her small
but lively feet. The paucity of her remaining dollars was beginning to
alarm her now. No further word had come from New York. But
whatever happened she was going to follow her luck.
She found Lady Violet seated before a typewriter, clucking away as if
for dear life. This was a form of effort with which Mame was only too
familiar.
“So sorry.” Lady Violet glanced up from her task. “Please excuse me
five minutes. I’m all behind as usual. This weekly syndicate letter is
such a bore. One tangled mass of detail.” She made a wry mouth.
“Always leave it to the last moment. How can one find anything new
to say about the high-class underwear at Peary’s and Hodnett’s
Annual Spring Sale? Help yourself to a gasper. The box on the table.
And that’s the new novel of Loti, by the side of it; the one with the
paper cover. My review for the Courier has to be in to-morrow.
Luckily one doesn’t have to say anything new about Loti, does one?”
Mame did not smoke and she did not read French. But when in
Rome, had said Paula Ling; or was it the office calendar that had
said it for her? She left the silver box alone but took up the latest
work of Pierre Loti with the air of a connoisseur.
The book, however, did not claim much of her attention. She sat
watching Lady Violet work. In the sight of an expert she was by no
means skilful; it was rather pathetic to see her dabbing with one
uncertain finger of each hand. She also lent an ear to Lady Violet’s
stream of whimsical complaint and humorous apology. Plainly this
journalistic egg was bored by her luck. That old syndicate of hers
was surely worth good and regular money. If only—! But why indulge
vain thoughts?
In ten minutes, or less, Lady Violet was through. She shovelled her
copy, some twenty badly typed pages, into a large envelope; sealed
and addressed it; then with a comic sigh of relief she picked up the
meerschaum holder and had recourse to the silver box. “So sorry,”
she apologized for the nth time. “But we are not expected at the
Orient until five.”
She rang for Davis, that treasure among parlour maids, of whose
old-family-retainer air Mame was a shade in awe, and set down as
“sniffy.” To Davis the envelope was handed; she was told to send it at
once to Fleet Street by district messenger. And she was asked to get
a taxi.
In a time surprisingly short, as it seemed to Mame, the maid had
returned to say that the taxi awaited them. Lady Violet crammed on
an expensive hat without seeming to care, but Mame realised that
she had a marvellous knack of looking right in all circumstances.
Paula Ling would not have treated a hat that way, not on her life. As
for Mame herself, she had already taken a full twenty minutes to fix
her own before starting from Fotheringay House. But this skirt
flopped it on and there you were. Mame would have liked Paula to
have seen her.
If Mame could have banished the feeling of being on such terribly
thin ice, she would have enjoyed herself immensely at the Orient
Dance Club. The floor was good; the band, although by no means
equal to what New York could do—in Mame’s opinion it was hardly at
the Cowbarn level in its interpretation of jazz music—was still well
enough for London, England. All the folks were real select, even if
their dancing was nothing to write home about. As for the soft drinks
and the eats, they were quite O. K. But these matters, grave in their
way, were of minor importance.
The really vital things, when all was said, were the lounge lizards
with whom Mame was privileged to take the floor. First of all there
was Bill. He was not as light in hand as Elmer P., to mention only
one of Cowbarn’s kernoozers. Even if he didn’t move just naturally to
jazz music he was a good trier. Mame was wise enough not to
expect too much of the bo in the matter of hitting the parquet. But
even if he was no star, and his stiff British joints would have been
none the worse for a little oil, he was well enough, he would serve.
Anyhow the young man appeared to enjoy himself. He was all smiles
and willingness and good humour. Mame felt quite proud of him as
she guided his somewhat errant steps amid the Chick if slightly
immobile throng. She also felt rather proud of herself. It was not a
real top-notch dancing as she understood the art, but she had a kind
of hunch that she was sort of cutting a shine.
Bill was only one among the lads of the village. There were others; to
the taste of Miss Du Rance perhaps not so choice as he; still she
was nowise ashamed to be seen with them in the centre of the floor.
For the most part they were Bill’s brother officers and school pals
and so on. And all were regular fellows even if they did not quite
know how to move to ragtime.
What struck Mame as the chief difference between this mild festivity
and a hop in her native land was the quietness of it all. The folks
were so much more solemn, so much more serious. There was no
whirling you off your feet, no shouting; compared with Cowbarn,
Iowa, or even New York, it was rather like a high-class funeral.
Mame had a powerful desire to let herself out a bit. However, she
soon concluded that it would not be wise to do so. When in Rome! ...
particularly when Rome has not even heard of the Monkey Clutch!
Still, these handsome, strapping, brown-faced, blue-eyed mothers’
boys were very friendly and very pleasant. Mame noticed that Lady
Violet took to them quite kindly. She was the best dancer there,
Mame considered, barring of course present company, and a couple
of professionals, who had New York written all over them, although
said to be French. But Lady Violet was a very good mover indeed, in
an amateurish way. She had evidently benefited by her American
experience; she got these lads around in proper style; and she
seemed a great favourite with them all. A real sport Mame
considered her.
The same applied to Bill; also to his friends and brothers in arms.
And they had excellent taste in ices and cakes and in nice soft
drinks; although the best drink of all, that was called Cup, was not so
soft either. For a rather backward village like London things really
went pretty well. If Miss Du Rance could have forgotten for a single
moment that she was dancing on a full-sized volcano she would
have thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Apart from the uncomfortable feeling that she ought not to be there
at all, Mame was conscious of only one other blot on the
proceedings. Not so much a blot as a cloud. And yet cloud was
hardly the word. Everybody was so charming to everybody, so kind
and so polite and yet so quietly merry, that it was a hunch rather than
a rock-bottom fact which ever so slightly took the edge off Mame’s
enjoyment.
The hunch assumed the form of a Miss Childwick. She was a hefty
girl of twenty-three, buxom, upstanding, and a looker as Mame was
bound to own. Lady Violet sought an early opportunity of telling her
little friend that this was a regular Crœsus of a girl, the sole heiress
of Childwick’s Three Ply Flannelette, whose singular merits were the
theme of every hoarding from Land’s End to Hong Kong.
Miss Childwick’s money would not have mattered so much, but
where the snag came, as it seemed to Miss Du Rance, was that its
statuesque owner, as Lady Violet also took an early opportunity of
making known to her, was very keen on Bill. In other words, although
Lady Violet did not put it quite so crudely, it was up to the little lady
from Cowbarn, Iowa, to keep off the grass.
Speaking strictly by the card, there was of course no particular
reason why Miss Du Rance should keep off the grass. Bill was fair
game for any little angler who really understood the use of a bug and
pole. But Lady Violet gave a sort of hint that it would hardly be
cricket for Miss Du Rance to butt in and spoil things. Miss Childwick
was so rich that everybody in London and Shropshire hoped very
much that she and Bill were going to make a match of it.
That’s all very well, thought Mame. Evidently she considers it will be
unsporting of me to dance more than twice with the dandiest bird on
the bough. At all events, if these were not exactly Lady Violet’s own
views, it was a fair presumption they were the views of Miss
Childwick. In fact the Celebrated Three Ply Flannelette had already
given the Funny Little American a once-over at pretty close range.
Her fine eyes seemed to glow out at the good grey ones of Miss Du
Rance from every quarter of the room. And each time they did so
they seemed to glow with the light of battle.
Mame did not blame Miss Childwick altogether. Human nature is just
as liable to be human nature at the Orient Dance Club,
Knightsbridge, London, England, as at the Temple of Terpsichore,
Cowbarn, Iowa, or any other dive you care to name.
No, Miss Du Rance did not really blame Miss Childwick for sending a
sort of general warning along the wires. But where she did blame
Miss Childwick was for trying to put one over on her. When she
came to think about it afterwards she was not exactly sure that the
Three Ply Flannelette had really meant to do that, but it certainly
looked uncommonly like it. When you are mozing around with the
real nutty bits of nougat in Knightsbridge, London, England, it is
easier, no doubt, to be mistaken than in a small burg in a Middle
Western state.
What really happened was, that after Miss Du Rance had put Bill
through his paces the second time in three, and they had encored a
vanilla ice and cracker, and were just going to take the floor the third
time in four, up barges the Three Ply Flannelette, all smiles and
politeness, yet with an undercurrent of just owning the earth, though
perhaps not really meaning it. And Bill, for all his dyed-in-the-wool
niceness, at heart a simpleton, chose that identical moment to make
his old friend Miss Childwick known to his new friend, Miss Du
Rance of Chicago.
If ever youth, since the world began, simply insisted on finding
trouble, it was the tactless Bill. Miss Childwick’s eyes snapped and
Miss Du Rance did not blame her. The eyes of Miss Du Rance
snapped back and it is to be hoped that Miss Childwick attached no
blame to her either. It was a mere temperamental action on the part
of Miss Du Rance. Honours were easy over that course. But
immediately there followed the passage, which, brief as it was,
caused Mame seriously to ask herself whether this girl was not trying
to put one over on her.