The Economic Way of Thinking 13th Edition by David Prychitko, Peter Boettke, Paul Heyne

Exercise 2

Suppose a gasoline station offers the following promotion on the 4 th of July: "TODAY ONLY: FREE GASOLINE FROM NOON UNTIL 3:00 P.M.! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!" Is that gasoline a free good to the owner of the station? Is it a free good for all the drivers who wait in long lines to fill up? Countless others might decide to avoid the "free" gas and fill up at other stations that charge $4.00 per gallon. In your opinion, are they foolish to pass up the opportunity? In the economic way of thinking, would they be failing to economize?