Description
Book SynopsisThe authors bring into the classroom the ideas that today's researchers and policy-makers use - including behavioral economics, game theory, and incomplete contracts. Modern microeconomics is applied to pressing issues that students care about - inequality, climate change, and innovation - and illustrated with empirical case studies.
Trade ReviewI envy the students who will have the opportunity to take a microeconomics course based on this brilliant textbook. Not only will they find it fascinating. It will change their lives, in every way, for the better. * George Akerlof, Georgetown University, Nobel Laureate in Economics *
In a thick wall of textbooks about rational agents trading in perfect markets, Bowles and Halliday open up a window through which students can see economists at work as they seek answers to market failures, behavioral biases and all the obstacles that must be overcome to build a society that is fair and efficient. This book can change how economics is understood by students who will go on to help us find the answers. * Oriana Bandiera, Sir Anthony Atkinson Professor of Economics, LSE, Winner of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award *
This text will make for an exciting course - and one especially relevant to contemporary problems like inequality and climate change. Normally, students don't see recent economic ideas until they reach the end of the book. Here such ideas are introduced starting in the first chapter. * Eric Maskin, Harvard University, Nobel Laureate in Economics *
Bowles' and Halliday's textbook unusually puts at its core the key concepts of social sciences: the interactions (competition, conflict, and coordination) among individuals, groups, and firms. You will come away from this riveting reading understanding how economists deploy theory to help design impactful public policies, and why economics is essential to making this world a better place. * Jean Tirole, Toulouse School of Economics, Nobel Laureate in Economics *
Ambitious and exciting! The authors propose a completely new problem-centred approach to teaching microeconomics which gives space to discussion of issues often ignored by undergraduate microeconomics textbooks. * Dr Marco Pelliccia, Associate Professor in Economics, Heriot-Watt University *
The key strength of the content is the refreshing, big-picture way in which the concepts are presented, as well as the care in carrying out the real-world examples used to illustrate the arguments. * Dr Daniele Tavani, Associate Professor, Colorado State University *
Table of ContentsPART I: People, Economy, and Society 1: Society: coordination problems and economic institutions 2: People: preferences, beliefs, and constraints 3: Doing the best you can: constrained optimization 4: Property, power, and exchange: mutual gains and conflicts 5: Coordination failures and institutional responses PART II: Markets for Goods and Services 6: Production: technology and specialization 7: Demand: Willingness to pay and prices 8: Supply: firms' costs, output, and profit 9: Competition, rent-seeking, and market equilibration PART III: Markets with Incomplete Contracting 10: Information: contracts, norms, and power 11: Work, wages, and unemployment 12: Interest, credit, and wealth constraints PART IV: Economic Systems and Policy 13: A risky and unequal world 14: Perfect competition and the invisible hand 15: Capitalism: innovation and inequality 16: Public policy and mechanism design
