Economics

by Krugman, Paul; Wells, Robin

• ISBN13: 9781464143847
• ISBN10: 1464143846
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-03-30
• Publisher: Worth Publishers

Summary

When it comes to explaining fundamental economic principles by drawing on current economic issues and events, there is no one more effective than Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and co-author, Robin Wells. In this best-selling introductory textbook, Krugman and Wells’ signature storytelling style and uncanny eye for revealing examples help readers understand how economic concepts play out in our world.

This new edition is revised and enhanced throughout, including a much stronger array of superior online tools that are part of a complete, integrated online learning system.

Author Biography

Paul Krugman, recipient of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, is Professor of Economics at Princeton University, where he regularly teaches the principles course.  He received his BA from Yale and his PhD from MIT.  Prior to his current position, he taught at Yale, Stanford, and MIT.  He also spent a year on staff of the Council of Economics Advisors in 1982-1983.  His research is mainly in the area of international trade, where he is one of the founders of the “new trade theory,” which focuses on increasing returns and imperfect competition.  He also works in international finance, with a concentration in currency crises.  In 1991, Krugman received the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark medal.  In addition to his teaching and academic research, Krugman writes extensively for nontechnical audiences.  Krugman is a regular op-ed columnist for the New York Times.  His latest trade book, The Conscience of a Liberal, is a best-selling study of the political economy of economic inequality and its relationship with political polarization from the Gilded Age to the present.  His earlier books, Peddling Prosperity and The Age of Diminished Expectations, have become modern classics. 

 

Robin Wells was a lecturer and researcher in Economics at Princeton University, where she has taught undergraduate courses.  She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley; she then did her postdoctoral work at MIT.  She has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Southhampton (United Kingdom), Stanford, and MIT.  Her teaching and research focus on the theory of organizations and incentives.

Table of Contents

PART 1  What Is Economics?
Intro The Ordinary Business of Life
1 First Principles
2 Economic Models: Trade-offs and Trade 25
Appendix Graphs in Economics

PART 2 Supply and Demand
3 Supply and Demand
4 Consumer and Producer Surplus
5 Price Controls and Quotas: Meddling with Markets
6 Elasticity

PART 3 Individuals & Markets
7 Taxes
8 International Trade

PART 4 Economics and Decision Making
9 Decision Making by Individuals & Firms
Appendix Toward a Fuller Understanding of Present Value

PART 5 The Consumer
10 The Rational Consumer
Appendix Consumer Preferences and Consumer Choice

PART 6 The Production Decision
11 Behind the Supply Curve: Inputs and Costs
12 Perfect Competition and the Supply Curve

PART 7 Market Structure: Beyond Perfect Competition
13 Monopoly
14 Oligopoly
15 Monopolistic Competition and Product Differentiation

PART 8 Microeconomics and Public Policy
16 Externalities
17 Public Goods & Common Resources
18 The Economics of the Welfare

PART 9 Factor Markets & Risk
19 Factor Markets and the Distribution of Income
Appendix Indifference Curve Analysis of Labor Supply
20 Uncertainty, Risk, and Private Information

PART 10 Introduction to Macroeconomics
21 Macroeconomics: The Big Picture
22 GDP and CPI: Tracking the Macroeconomy
23 Unemployment and Inflation

PART 11 Long-Run Economic Growth
24 Long-Run Economic Growth
25 Savings, Investment Spending, and the Financial System

PART 12 Short-Run Economic Fluctuations
26 Income and Expenditure
Appendix Deriving the Multiplier Algebraically
27 Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply

PART 13 Stabilization Policy
28 Fiscal Policy
Appendix Taxes and the Multiplier
29 Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve System
30 Monetary Policy
Appendix Reconciling the Two Models of the Interest Rate
31 Inflation, Disinflation, and
Deflation
32 Crises and Consequences

PART 14 Events and Ideas
33 Events and Ideas

PART 15 The Open Economy
34 Open-Economy Macroeconomics

Macroeconomic Data Tables M-1

Solutions to “Check Your Understanding” Questions

Glossary

Index