The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economics.
— Joan Robinson
The economy of any country, big or small, can be too complicated for most of us to understand right away. A simplified model, such as the production possibilities frontier, can be tremendously helpful in understanding an economy. It is very easy to learn how the model works and one the viewer does, it also becomes easy to notice why a production number may be unrealistic or why a country may be unproductive. If a point falls very much inside a frontier, for example, then the viewer can do further research on why a country may not be producing to its highest potential. If a point falls clearly outside the frontier line, then the viewer may conclude that it’s an unrealistic level of production given the resources of that economy.
Something I frequently heard before reading this chapter was that infrastructure was the answer to unemployment. More often than not, this belief led to normative statements such as, “they should put money into the infrastructure of this country” and, “they need to put the construction industry to work for a better economy.” The reasons the government doesn’t allocate large amounts of resources into the construction industry isn’t because they don’t want construction workers to have jobs; it’s because the country’s resources are limited and there’s just priorities to be taken care of before building nicer roads. This is especially relevant in this area where construction plays a key role in the economy. It’s become very clear to me that construction is an industry which relies very heavily on how the rest of the economy is doing.
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