Principles of Microeconomics

by Frank, Robert; Bernanke, Ben

• ISBN13: 9780077318512
• ISBN10: 007731851X
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-13
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Summary

In recent years, innovative texts in mathematics, science, foreign languages, and other fields have achieved dramatic pedagogical gains by abandoning the traditional encyclopedic approach in favor of attempting to teach a short list of core principles in depth. Two well-respected writers and researchers, Bob Frank and Ben Bernanke, have shown that the less-is-more approach affords similar gains in introductory economics. Although a few other texts have paid lip service to this new approach, Frank/Bernanke is by far the best throughout, and the best executed principles text in this mold. Avoiding excessive reliance on formal mathematical derivations, it presents concepts intuitively through examples drawn from familiar contexts. The authors introduce a coherent short list of core principles and reinforce them by illustrating and applying each in numerous contexts. Students are periodically asked to apply these principles and to answer related questions and exercises.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction

1. Thinking Like an Economist

2. Comparative Advantage

3. Supply and Demand

Part 2 Competition and the Invisible Hand

4. Elasticity

5. Demand

6. Perfectly Competitive Supply

7. Efficiency, Exchange, and the Invisible Hand in Action

Part 3 Market Imperfections

8. Monopoly, Oligopoly, and Monopolistic Competition

9. Games and Strategic Behavior

10. Externalities and Property Rights

11. The Economics of Information

Part 4 Economics of Public Policy

12. Labor Markets, Poverty, and Income Distribution

13. The Environment, Health, and Safety

14. Public Goods and Tax Policy