Frederic Bastiat (1801 - 1850) was a French political economist famous for exploding popular economic misconceptions (misconceptions that persist to this very day outside the economics profession!). He developed the concept of opportunity cost, one of the building blocks of economic theory, arguing that it is not enough to consider only the seeneffects of an action; we must also account for that which is not seen.

In What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen, Bastiat refutes 12 specific fallacies regarded as conventional wisdom (from "The Broken Window" through "The Right to Employment and the Right to Profit"). Your extra credit assignment is as follows: Read the essay and summarize each of Bastiat's 12 arguments. In your own words, lay out Bastiat's position on each issue and explain his reasoning. Convince me that you understand the logic underlying each of his arguments; simply copying and pasting won't do the trick. In terms of length, I have no specific requirements in mind but I would guess that 1-4 paragraphs per argument will suffice. That said, you will not be penalized for deviating from this guideline.

Each argument summary in which you demonstrate competence of the economic principles at work will earn you 1 point toward your final course grade. Additionally, you can earn 1 more point for applying Bastiat's seen vs unseen analysis to a current news or political issue in which the popular press or a politician has taken a stance that betrays fallacious economic reasoning.