MASTERY QUIZ

The Armchair Economist

Test your knowledge with 45 questions across 3 challenge tiers

Based on the book The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg

🥉 Fundamentals

🥈 Deep Dive

🥇 Expert

Steven Landsburg

The economist who wrote The Armchair Economist applying economic reasoning to everyday life

Example

Landsburg uses microeconomic principles to analyze ordinary decisions and social questions

Microeconomics

The study of individual economic decisions by consumers firms and markets

Example

Microeconomics examines how incentives prices and trade-offs shape specific choices

Opportunity Cost

The value of the next best alternative forgone when making a choice

Example

Opportunity cost is central to economic thinking because every choice means giving up something else

Marginal Thinking

Making decisions based on additional costs and benefits rather than averages or totals

Example

Marginal thinking asks what one more unit costs or provides not what the average is

Incentives

The rewards and penalties that influence behavior

Example

Economics assumes people respond predictably to incentives even when outcomes seem surprising

Trade-offs

The reality that getting more of one thing means having less of another

Example

Trade-offs exist because resources are scarce and choices must be made

Efficiency

Allocating resources to maximize total value or minimize waste

Example

Economists often evaluate policies by whether they improve or reduce efficiency

Externalities

Costs or benefits that affect parties not directly involved in a transaction

Example

Externalities like pollution explain why markets sometimes fail without intervention

Revealed Preference

Judging what people value by observing their actual choices rather than their words

Example

Revealed preference assumes actions show true preferences better than stated intentions

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Evaluating decisions by comparing total costs to total benefits

Example

Cost-benefit analysis is the economist basic tool for evaluating choices and policies

Rational Choice

The assumption that people make decisions to maximize their wellbeing given constraints

Example

Rational choice does not mean perfect decisions but consistent pursuit of goals

Market Clearing

When prices adjust so that quantity supplied equals quantity demanded

Example

Market clearing explains how prices coordinate behavior without central planning

Fundamentals

TIER 1 • READER BADGE

10 Questions ~5 min 80% to pass

Start Quiz →

🔒

Deep Dive

TIER 2 • SCHOLAR BADGE

15 Questions ~10 min 80% to pass

🔒 Pass Fundamentals to Unlock

🔒

Expert

TIER 3 • MASTER BADGE

20 Questions ~15 min 85% to pass

🔒 Pass Deep Dive to Unlock

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