Microeconomics

Introduction The Ordinary Business of Life Any Given Sunday The Invisible Hand My Benefit, Your Cost Good Times, Bad Times Onward and Upward An Engine for Discovery Chapter 1 First Principles Common Ground Individual Choice: The Core of Economics For Inquiring Minds: Got a Penny? For Inquiring Minds: Pay for Grades? Economics in Action: A Woman’s Work Interaction: How Economies Work For Inquiring Minds: Choosing Sides Economics in Action: Restoring Equilibrium on the Freeways Economy-Wide Interactions Economics in Action: Adventures in Babysitting Chapter 2 Economic Models: Trade-offs and Trade Tunnel Vision Models in Economics: Some Important Examples For Inquiring Minds: Models for Money Pitfalls: Misunderstanding Comparative Advantage Global Comparison: Pajama Republics Economics in Action: Rich Nation, Poor Nation Using Models For Inquiring Minds: When Economists Agree Economics in Action: Economists in Government Chapter 2 Appendix: Graphs in Economics Getting the Picture Graphs, Variables, and Economic Models How Graphs Work A Key Concept: The Slope of a Curve Calculating the Area Below or Above a Curve Graphs That Depict Numerical InformationChapter 3 Supply and Demand Wake Up and Don’t Smell the Coffee Supply and Demand: A Model of a Competitive Market The Demand Curve Global Comparison: Pay More, Pump Less Pitfalls: Demand versus Quantity Demanded Economics in Action: Beating the Traffic The Supply Curve Economics in Action: Only Creatures Small and Pampered Supply, Demand, and Equilibrium Pitfalls: Bought and Sold? Economics in Action: The Price of Admission Changes in Supply and Demand Pitfalls: Which Curve Is It, Anyway? For Inquiring Minds: Tribulations on the Runway Economics in Action: The Great Tortilla Crisis Competitive Markets—And Others Chapter 4 Consumer and Producer Surplus Making Gains by the Book Consumer Surplus and the Demand Curve For Inquiring Minds: A Matter of Life and Death Economics in Action: When Money Isn’t Enough Producer Surplus and the Supply Curve Economics in Action: When the Corn Is High Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus, and the Gains from Trade Economics in Action: eBay and Efficiency A Market Economy Economics in Action: A Great Leap—BackwardChapter 5 The Market Strikes Back Big City, Not-So-Bright Ideas Why Governments Control Prices Price Ceilings For Inquiring Minds: Winners, Losers, and Rent Control For Inquiring Minds: Rent Control, Mumbai Style Economics in Action: Hard Shopping in Caracas Price Floors For Inquiring Minds: Price Floors and School Lunches Pitfalls: Ceilings, Floors, and Quantities Global Comparison: Check Out Our Low, Low Wages! Economics in Action: "Black Labor" in Southern Europe Controlling Quantities Economics in Action: The Clams of New JerseyChapter 6 Elasticity More Precious Than a Flu Shot Defining and Measuring Elasticity Economics in Action: Estimating Elasticities Interpreting the Price Elasticity of Demand Economics in Action: Responding to Your Tuition Bill Other Demand Elasticities For Inquiring Minds: Where Have All the Farmers Gone? Global Comparison: Food’s Bite In World Budgets Economics in Action: Spending It The Price Elasticity of Supply Economics in Action: European Farm Surpluses An Elasticity MenagerieChapter 7 Taxes A Tax Riot The Economics of Taxes: A Preliminary View Economics in Action: Who Pays the FICA? The Benefits and Costs of Taxation For Inquiring Minds: The Laffer Curve Economics in Action: Taxing the Marlboro Man Tax Fairness and Tax Efficiency For Inquiring Minds: Killing the Lawyers Economics in Action: Federal Tax Philosophy Understanding the Tax System Global Comparison: You Think You Pay High Taxes? For Inquiring Minds: Taxing Income versus Taxing Consumption Economics in Action: The Top Marginal Income Tax RateChapter 8 International TradeA Seafood Fight Comparative Advantage and International Trade Global Comparison: Productivity And Wages Around The World For Inquiring Minds: Increasing Returns and International Trade Economics in Action: Skill and Comparative Advantage Supply, Demand, and International Trade Economics in Action: Trade, Wages, and Land Prices in the Nineteenth Century The Effects of Trade Protection Economics in Action: Trade Protection in the United States The Political Economy of Trade Protection For Inquiring Minds: Chinese Pants Explosion Economics in Action: The Doha Deadlock Chapter 9 Making Decisions A Tale of Two Invasions Opportunity Cost and Decisions For Inquiring Minds: Famous College Dropouts Economics in Action: Farming in the Shadow of Suburbia Making "How Much" Decisions: The Role of Marginal Analysis Pitfalls: Total Cost versus Marginal Cost Global Comparison: Portion Sizes Pitfalls: Muddled at the Margin Economics in Action: The Cost of a Life Sunk Costs Economics in Action: A Billion Here, a Billion There . . . The Concept of Present Value Economics in Action: How Big Is That Jackpot, Anyway?Chapter 10 The Rational Consumer A Clam Too Far Utility: Getting Satisfaction For Inquiring Minds: Is Marginal Utility Really Diminishing? Economics in Action: Oysters versus Chicken Budgets and Optimal Consumption For Inquiring Minds: Food for Thought on Budget Constraints Economics in Action: The Consumption Possibilities of American Workers, 1895–2000 Spending the Marginal Dollar Pitfalls: The Right Marginal Comparison For Inquiring Minds: But Are Consumers Really Rational? Economics in Action: Buying Your Way Out of Temptation From Utility to the Demand Curve For Inquiring Minds: Giffin Goods Economics in Action: Mortgage Rates and Consumer Demand Chapter 11 Consumer Preferences and Consumer ChoiceA Tale of Two Cities Mapping the Utility Function For Inquiring Minds: Are Utils Useful?Indifference Curves and Consumer ChoiceEconomics in Action: Rats and Rational ChoiceUsing Indifference Curves: Substitutes and ComplementsEconomics in Action: Publicity or Piracy?Prices, Income, and DemandPitfalls: “Other Things Equal,” RevisitedEconomics in Action: How Much Housing? Chapter 12 Behind the Supply Curve: Inputs and CostsThe Farmer’s MarginThe Production FunctionGlobal Comparison: Wheat Yields Around The WorldPitfalls: What’s a Unit?For Inquiring Minds: Was Malthus Right?Economics in Action: The Mythical Man-MonthTwo Key Concepts: Marginal Cost and Average CostEconomics in Action: Don’t Put Out the Welcome MatShort-Run versus Long-Run CostsEconomics in Action: There’s No Business Like Snow Business Chapter 13 Perfect Competition and the Supply CurveDoing What Comes NaturallyPerfect CompetitionFor Inquiring Minds: What’s a Standardized Product?Economics in Action: The Pain of CompetitionProduction and ProfitsPitfalls: What If Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost Aren’t Exactly Equal?Pitfalls: Economic Profit, AgainEconomics in Action: Prices Are Up . . . but So Are CostsThe Industry Supply CurveEconomics in Action: A Crushing ReversalChapter 14 MonopolyEverybody Must Get StonesTypes of Market StructureThe Meaning of MonopolyGlobal Comparison: The Price We PayEconomics in Action: Low Supply and Soaring Demand: A Diamond Producer’s Best FriendHow a Monopolist Maximizes ProfitPitfalls: Finding the Monopoly PricePitfalls: Is There a Monopoly Supply Curve?For Inquiring Minds: Monopoly Behavior and the Price Elasticity of DemandEconomics in Action: California Power PlayMonopoly and Public PolicyEconomics in Action: Cable DilemmasPrice DiscriminationEconomics in Action: Sales, Factory Outlets, and Ghost CitiesChapter 15 OligopolyCaught in the ActThe Prevalence of OligopolyEconomics in Action: Is it an Oligopoly or Not?Understanding OligopolyGlobal Comparison: Europe Levels The Playing Field for Coke and PepsiEconomics in Action: The Great Vitamin ConspiracyGames Oligopolists PlayPitfalls: Playing Fair in the Prisoners’ DilemmaFor Inquiring Minds: Prisoners of the Arms RaceEconomics in Action: The Rise and Fall and Rise of OPECOligopoly in PracticeFor Inquiring Minds: The Art of ConspiracyEconomics in Action: The Price Wars of ChristmasHow Important Is Oligopoly?Chapter 16 Monopolistic Competition and Product Differentiation Fast-Food DifferentiationThe Meaning of Monopolistic CompetitionProduct DifferentiationFor Inquiring Minds: Can’t Buy LoveEconomics in Action: Any Color, So Long as It’s BlackUnderstanding Monopolistic CompetitionFor Inquiring Minds: Hits and FlopsEconomics in Action: The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters?Monopolistic Competition versus Perfect CompetitionControversies about Product DifferentiationEconomics in Action: Absolut IrrationalityChapter 17 ExternalitiesWho’ll Stop the Rain?The Economics of PollutionPitfalls: So How Do You Measure the Marginal Social Cost of Pollution?Pitfalls: So How Do You Measure the Marginal Social Benefit of Pollution?For Inquiring Minds: Talking and DrivingEconomics in Action: Thank You for Not SmokingPolicies Toward PollutionGlobal Comparison: Economic Growth and Greenhouse Gases in Five CountriesEconomics in Action: Cap and TradeProduction, Consumption, and ExternalitiesEconomics in Action: The Impeccable Economic Logic of Early Childhood Intervention ProgramsNetwork ExternalitiesEconomics in Action: The Microsoft CaseChapter 18 Public Goods and Common ResourcesThe Great StinkPrivate Goods—and OthersPitfalls: Marginal Cost Of What Exactly?Economics in Action: A Policeman’s LotPublic GoodsGlobal Comparison: Voting as a Public Good: The Global PerspectiveFor Inquiring Minds: Voting as a Public Good Here at HomeEconomics in Action: Old Man RiverCommon ResourcesFor Inquiring Minds: A Water Fight in MaineEconomics in Action: A Tale of Two FisheriesArtificially Scarce GoodsEconomics in Action: Blacked-Out GamesChapter 19 The Economics of the Welfare StateInsuring Children’s HealthPoverty, Inequality, and Public PolicyFor Inquiring Minds: Justice and the Welfare StateGlobal Comparison: Poor People In Rich CountriesEconomics in Action: Long-Term Trends in Income InequalityThe U.S. Welfare StateEconomics in Action: Britain’s War on PovertyThe Economics of Health CareFor Inquiring Minds: California Death SpiralEconomics in Action: The Trouble with Medical ProgressThe Debate Over the Welfare StateEconomics in Action: French Family ValuesChapter 20 Factor Markets and the Distribution of IncomeThe Value of a DegreeThe Economy’s Factors of ProductionPitfalls: What Is a Factor, Anyway?For Inquiring Minds: The Factor Distribution of Income and Social Change in the Industrial RevolutionEconomics in Action: The Factor Distribution of Income in the United StatesMarginal Productivity and Factor DemandPitfalls: Getting Marginal Productivity RightEconomics in Action: Help Wanted!Is the Marginal Productivity Theory of Income Distribution Really True?Economics in Action: The Economics of ApartheidThe Supply of LaborFor Inquiring Minds: Why You Can’t Find a Cab When It’s RainingGlobal Comparison: The Overworked American?Economics in Action: The Decline of the Summer Job20 Appendix: Indifference Curve Analysis of Labor SupplyThe Time Allocation Budget LineThe Effect of a Higher Wage RateIndifference Curve AnalysisChapter 21 Uncertainty, Risk, and Private InformationThe Year of the HurricaneThe Economics of Risk AversionFor Inquiring Minds: The Paradox of GamblingPitfalls: Before the Fact versus After the FactEconomics in Action: Warranties Buying, Selling, and Reducing RiskFor Inquiring Minds: Those Pesky EmotionsEconomics in Action: When Lloyd’s Almost Llost ItPrivate Information: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt YouEconomics in Action: Franchise Owners Try Harder