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Provides basic economic and social indicators for 145 countries, drawn from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (2004). The data include: population, land area, GNP per capita, real GDP growth, life expectancy, adult illiteracy, fertility rate, access to sanitation, and income inequality. Reports data from 2000 whenever possible and is largely based on Basic Statistics from World Bank's World Development Report 2002 (9-703-030).

Traces the economic development of the United States from 1790 to 1857, focusing especially on the struggle between free traders and protectionists over federal tariff policy. Devotes considerable attention to the nation's political system, its evolving common law, basic factors of production (land, labor, and capital), and key sectors (agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, etc.).

Examines the federal financial response to September 11, 2001: the airline bailout, the victim compensation fund, emergency aid to New York and Washington, and terrorism reinsurance. Less than two weeks after the attacks, the government had committed almost $40 billion to relieving the victims and safeguarding the economy. A little over a year later, these measures were joined by the creation of a federal terrorism reinsurance program, originally proposed by the White House in October 2001. On the surface, the federal financial response to September 11 was puzzling. Did the enormity of the attacks weaken the country's commitment to laissez-faire principles? Or is the traditional attitude toward government economic intervention in the United States more complicated than the phrase "laissez-faire" (or "free market") implies? Explores the appropriate role of government in managing risk and responding to disasters and then asks students to consider whether each of the various initiatives--and indeed the program as a whole--was a success or a failure.

Presents the fundamentals of GDP accounting (including definitions, etc.), examines the history of national accounting, and surveys the international debate over "Green GDP." The first section explains the basic rules and definitions of national economic accounting and the meaning of GDP versus NDP. The second section provides historical context for the development of national income estimates, 1886 to 1940, culminating in the creation of GNP by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1940s. The third and final section discusses the standard imputations currently made to reflect nonprice economic activity (e.g., for owner-occupied housing and government services) and explores the debate over imputations for natural resources and environmental quality.