About this Product

Why You Need It

Supplements

Write a Review

• Overview
• |
• Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Note: Each chapter includes a Conclusion, Key Points, Key Terms, Questions for Review, and Problems. Each appendix includes Key Points, Key Terms and Definitions, Questions for Review, and Problems.
I. Introduction to Economics
1. The Central Idea
Scarcity and Choice for Individuals
Scarcity and Choice for the Economy as a Whole
Market Economies and the Price System
Economics in Action: Gains from Trade on the Internet
Economics in Action: Teaching Jobs and Graduate School Applications--Two Sides of the Same Coin
Economics in the News: Gains from Trade on the Radio
2. Observing and Explaining the Economy
What Do Economists Do?
The Fluctuating Price of Gasoline
Recommending Appropriate Policies
Economics in Action: An Economic Experiment to Study Discrimination
Economics in Action: Science or Persuasion?
Economics in the News: Young Economists at Work
Appendix to Chapter 2. Reading, Understanding, and Creating Graphs
Visualizing Observations with Graphs
Visualizing Models with Graphs
3. The Supply and Demand Model
Demand
Supply
Market Equilibrium: Combining Supply and Demand
Economics in the News: Why Roses Cost More on Valentine's Day
Economics in Action: Using the Supply and Demand Model to Analyze Real-World Issues
4. Subtleties of the Supply and Demand Model: Price Floors, Price Ceilings, and Elasticity
Interference with Market Prices
Elasticity of Demand
Working with Demand Elasticities
Elasticity of Supply
Economics in Action: How Policymakers Use Price Elasticity of Demand to Discourage Underage Drinking
Economics in the News: Increasing School Enrollment in Africa
Economics in Action: Predicting the Size of a Price Increase
Economics in Action: Will an Increase in the Minimum Wage Benefit Poor Workers?
II. Principles of Microeconomics
5. The Demand Curve and the Behavior of Consumers
Utility and Consumer Preferences
The Budget Constraint and Utility Maximization
Willingness to Pay and the Demand Curve
The Market Demand Curve
Consumer Surplus
Economics in Action: Peering Deeper into How Individuals Make Decisions
Economics in the News: Creating Consumer Surplus for the Poor
Economics in Action: Building Roads and Bridges with Consumer Surplus
Appendix to Chapter 5. Consumer Theory with Indifference Curves
The Budget Line
The Indifference Curve
6. The Supply Curve and the Behavior of Firms
Definition of a Firm
The Firm's Profits
Profit Maximization and the Individual Firm's Supply Curve
The Market Supply Curve
Producer Surplus
Economics in Action: Green Pricing and Incentives
Economics in the News: Supply Shifts Caused by Natural Disaster
7. The Interaction of People in Markets
Individual Consumers and Firms in a Market
Are Competitive Markets Efficient?
Measuring Waste from Inefficiency
The Deadweight Loss from Price Floors and Ceilings
Shifts in Cost Curves
The Deadweight Loss from Taxation
Informational Efficiency
Economics in the News: Coordination Failure in Responding to a Famine
Economics in Action: Price Controls and Deadweight Loss in the Milk Industry
III. The Economics of the Firm
8. Costs and the Changes at Firms over Time
Costs for an Individual Firm
Cost Curves
The Production Decision in the Short Run
Costs and Production: The Long Run
Economies of Scale
Economics in the News: A Dormant Mine Starts Up Again
Economics in Action: Expanding (and Shrinking) a Firm over Time
Economics in Action: Economist Finds Economies of Scale at Pin Factory
Appendix to Chapter 8. Producer Theory with Isoquants
Combining Capital and Labor
Minimizing Costs for a Given Quantity
9. The Rise and Fall of Industries
Markets and Industries
The Long-Run Competitive Equilibrium Model of an Industry
External Economies and Diseconomies of Scale
Economics in the News: Entry and Exit in the DVD Rental Industry
Economics in Action: The Rise of Digital Cameras and the Death of Silver Halide Film
Economics in the News: Cycles in the Grape Industry
10. Monopoly
A Model of Monopoly
The Generic Diagram of a Monopoly and Its Profits
Competition, Monopoly, and Deadweight Loss
Why Monopolies Exist
Price Discrimination
Economics in the News: The Decline of the Diamond Monopolist
Economics in Action: How Best to Ensure Access to Clean Water in Developing Countries
11. Product Differentiation, Monopolistic Competition, and Oligopoly
Product Differentiation
Monopolistic Competition
Oligopoly
Economics in Action: What's the Future of Product Differentiation?
Economics in the News: The Deliciousness of Product Differentiation
Economics in Action: A Duopoly Game
12. Antitrust Policy and Regulation
Antitrust Policy
Regulating Natural Monopolies
To Regulate or Not to Regulate
Economics in Action: Are Mergers Good for the Economy?
Economics in the News: Price Fixing in the Ivy League
IV. Markets, Income Distribution, and Public Goods
13. Labor Markets
The Measurement of Wages
The Labor Market
Labor Demand
A Comparison of MRP = W with MC = P
Labor Supply
Explaining Wage Trends and Differences
Labor Unions
Economics in the News: Incentives to Work
Economics in Action: Why It's Better Being an Economist
Economics in Action: Does Productivity or Compensating Differentials Explain the Academic Wage Gap?
14. Taxes, Transfers, and Income Distribution
The Tax System
Transfer Payments
The Distribution of Income in the United States
Economics in the News: The "Death Tax" Debate
Economics in the News: Assessing the Success of the 1996 Welfare Reform a Decade Later
Economics in Action: Should We Be Concerned About Income Inequality?
15. Public Goods, Externalities, and Government Behavior
Public Goods
Externalities: From the Environment to Education
Remedies for Externalities
Models of Government Behavior
Economics in Action: Excludability, Rivalry, and the Classification of Goods and Services
Economics in the News: Realizing the Positive Externalities of a New Cancer Vaccine
Economics in the News: Environmental Economics
Economics in Action: Advising the Government to Auction Off the Spectrum
16. Capital Markets
The Distinction Between Physical Capital and Financial Capital
Markets for Physical Capital
Markets for Financial Capital
The Tradeoff Between Risk and Return
Corporate Governance Problems
Economics in the News: Physical Capital Accumulation of Google
Economics in Action: Understanding Stock and Bond Price Listings in Newspapers
Economics in the News: Corporate Greed
Appendix to Chapter 16. Present Discounted Value
Discounting the Future
Finding the Present Discounted Value
V. Trade and Global Markets
17. The Gains from International Trade
Recent Trends in International Trade
Comparative Advantage
Reasons for Comparative Advantage
Gains from Expanded Markets
Economics in the News: The Economic Impact of Outsourcing
Economics in Action: Doing Politics and Economics
18. International Trade Policy
Tariffs and Quotas
The History of Trade Restrictions
Arguments for Trade Barriers
How to Reduce Trade Barriers
Economics in Action: From Steel to Shrimp: The Same Old Tariff Story
Economics in the News: The End of the Multi-Fiber Agreement
Economics in Action: Ending the Corn Laws
Glossary
Index
Credits