Description
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction 1
Part1: Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity 5
Chapter 1: What Economics Is and Why You Should Care 7
Chapter 2: Cookies or Ice Cream? Exploring Consumer Choices 23
Chapter 3: Producing Stuff to Maximize Happiness 37
Part 2: Microeconomics: The Science of Consumer and Firm Behavior 59
Chapter 4: Supply and Demand Made Easy 61
Chapter 5: Introducing Homo Economicus, the Utility-Maximizing Consumer 87
Chapter 6: The Core of Capitalism: The Profit-Maximizing Firm 105
Chapter 7: Why Economists Love Free Markets and Competition 129
Chapter 8: Monopolies: Bad Behavior When Competition Is Lacking 155
Chapter 9: Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Middle Grounds 177
Part 3: Applying the Theories of Microeconomics 195
Chapter 10: Property Rights and Wrongs 197
Chapter 11: Asymmetric Information and Public Goods 209
Chapter 12: Internet Economics: Networks and Platforms 225
Chapter 13: Behavioral Economics: Investigating Irrationality 245
Part 4: Macroeconomics: The Science of Economic Growth and Stability 263
Chapter 14: How Economists Measure the Macroeconomy 265
Chapter 15: Inflation Frustration: Why More Money Isn’t Always Good 285
Chapter 16: Understanding Why Recessions Happen 303
Chapter 17: Fighting Recessions with Monetary and Fiscal Policy 329
Chapter 18: Grasping Origins and Effects of Financial Crises 359
Part 5: The Part of Tens 369
Chapter 19: Ten Seductive Economic Fallacies 371
Chapter 20: Ten Economic Ideas to Hold Dear 379
Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Super-Famous Economists 383
Chapter 22: Ten (Or So) Recent Nobel Laureates in Economics 391
Glossary 397
Index 405
