1. Introduction -- 2. Economic ideas before Adam Smith -- 3. Adam Smith -- 4. Thomas Robert Malthus -- 5. David Ricardo -- 6. Rationalistic subjectivism : the economics of Bentham, Say, and Senior -- 7. Political economy of the poor : the ideas of William Thompson and Thomas Hodgskin -- 8. Pure...

Paul Krugman tells the story of the Capitol Hill baby-sitting co-op as a means of introducing readers to the economics of recessions. This story, like many others in economics, is a wonderful teaching device in undergraduate courses. We take the story from where Krugman stops and develop it by...