Economics & Finance

Comparative Advantage: Do What You're Relatively Less Bad At

David Ricardo's insight that trade benefits both parties even when one is better at everything — because opportunity cost, not absolute cost, is what determines who should produce what.

Gresham's Law: Bad Money Drives Out Good

When two currencies circulate together, people hoard the more valuable one and spend the debased one. Sir Thomas Gresham's 16th-century observation applies far beyond currency.

Veblen Goods: When Price Is the Point

Thorstein Veblen's observation that some goods sell more as they get more expensive — because the price itself signals status. Luxury markets run on this logic entirely.