ABSTRACT
Microeconomic Principles and Problems offers a comprehensive introduction to all major perspectives in modern economics, including mainstream and heterodox approaches. Through providing multiple views of markets and how they work, it will leave readers better able to understand and analyse the complex behaviours of consumers, firms, and government officials, as well as the likely impact of a variety of economic events and policies.
Most principles of microeconomics textbooks cover only mainstream economics, ignoring rich heterodox ideas. They also lack material on the great economists, including the important ideas of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. Mainstream books neglect the kind of historical analysis that is crucial to understanding trends that help us predict the future. Moreover, they focus on abstract models more than existing economic realities. This engaging book addresses these inadequacies. Including explicit coverage of the major heterodox schools of thought, it allows the reader to choose which ideas they find most compelling in explaining modern economic realities.
Written in an engaging style focused on real world examples, this ground-breaking book brings economics to life. It offers the most contemporary and complete package for any pluralistic microeconomics class.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |1 pages
Economics
chapter |20 pages
Scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost
part |3 pages
The evolution of economic ideas and systems
chapter |23 pages
The evolution of pre-capitalist economic systems
chapter |19 pages
Karl Marx and the dark ages of capitalism
chapter |21 pages
Thorstein Veblen and monopoly capitalism
chapter |21 pages
Modern economic systems
part |2 pages
Markets, supply, and demand
chapter |30 pages
Markets and how they work
chapter |30 pages
Applications of supply and demand
part |2 pages
Market structures and corporations
chapter |22 pages
Monopoly and monopoly power
chapter |15 pages
Monopolistic competition
chapter |19 pages
Oligopoly and strategic behavior
chapter |19 pages
Corporations and their role in society
part |2 pages
Government intervention in microeconomic markets
chapter |29 pages
Market failure and government failure
chapter |25 pages
Public goods and services
part |2 pages
Labor markets and inequality
part |2 pages
International microeconomics