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TANSTAAFL: A rather cumbersome and usually hard to remember acronym for the expression "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. This is a favorite saving of many economists because it highlights, albeit in a grammatically questionable manner, the fundamental problem of scarcity. The phrase serves to emphasize that seemingly "free" lunches are not really free. While they might be free to the customer, someone must pay, that is, incur an opportunity cost of foregone production. The lunch eaten by one person cannot be eaten by another.
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FREE-RIDER PROBLEM A problem underlying the provision of public goods that occurs when a person consumes or benefits from a good without making payment. The free-rider problem is the primary reason that public goods are produced by governments. Because public goods are characterized by the inability to exclude nonpayers, once a public good is produced anyone, everyone, can consume without making payment, that is, get a "free ride." Voluntary payments like those occurring in markets will not provide enough revenue to pay production costs. The only way to finance public goods is to force free-riders, and everyone else, to pay through government taxes. The free-rider problem also applies to common-property goods.
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PURPLE SMARPHIN
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time strolling through a department store trying to buy either a travel case for you toothbrush or a looseleaf notebook binder. Be on the lookout for telephone calls from long-lost relatives.
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A U.S. dime has 118 groves around its edge, one fewer than a U.S. quarter.
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"Inside the ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong. " -- Muhammad Ali
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LOCH
London Options Clearing House
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