Megan McGinnity has has studied child slavery in Ghana. She has examined how former child soldiers are being reintegrated into society in Rwanda. And she has studied the sex trade in Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia. The ASU honors student says that seeing these problems through the lens of economics helps explain peoples' incentives. She hopes that changing the incentive structure can help solve these and other daunting problems of human trafficking. (part 2 of 3) --by Sheilah Britton

The U.S. government debt is massive and growing out of control. Our debt is a burden on our grandchildren. Those are statements that most Americans have become accustomed to hearing. Edward Prescott says they are two of seven widely propagated myths. --by Carrie Barnett

Why are some parts of the world rich and getting richer? Why are some nations mired in poverty? The questions are among the most fundamental in economics. If economists can discover how economies improve their living standards, then the logical next step is to craft policies to make it happen. --by Carrie Barnett

Understanding the economy requires a sense of what Dawn McLaren calles connectivity—the way in which many factors come together to create a sort of force that affects us all. --by Jessica McCann

Accurate economic forecasting involves more than number crunching—it also takes a bit of gut instinct. --by Jessica McCann