Synopses & Reviews
This text is well known for using the Keynesian model in the teaching of economics; yet in recent editions, the authors have expanded coverage of the growth model considerably to achieve more balanced coverage. The text uses the aggregate supply/ aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning macroeconomics. It achieves the right level of rigor and detail, presenting complicated concepts in a relatively straightforward manner and using timely economic data. Using puzzles, issues, and well-developed examples, the authors provide a good balance of theory to application. Homework Xpress is available with the anniversary Tenth Edition and two new sets of end of chapter questions have been added as well to help students prepare for exams: "Test Yourself" and "Discussion Questions".
Synopsis
This text remains a proven leader in the world of economics. Since introducing the aggregate supply/ aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning economics over two decades ago, in this edition William J. Baumol and Alan S. Blinder continue their long tradition of equipping students with the knowledge and tools they need to apply modern economics to their world. Hallmark features include one of the strongest policy treatments on the market and a careful and in-depth focus on the most important economic tools students should retain after the course is over.
About the Author
William J. Baumol was born in New York City, and received his BSS at the College of the City of New York and his Ph.D. at the University of London. He is professor of economics at New York University, and senior research economist and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He is a frequent consultant to the management of major firms in a wide variety of industries in the United States and other countries, as well as to a number of governmental agencies. In several fields, including the telecommunications and electric utility industries, current regulatory policy is based on his explicit recommendations. Among his many contributions to economics are research on the theory of the firm, the contestability of markets, the economics of the arts and other services -- the "cost disease of the services" is often referred to as "Baumol's disease" --and economic growth, entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition to economics, he taught a course in wood sculpture at Princeton for about 20 years. He has been president of the American Economic Association, and three other professional societies. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, created by the U.S. Congress, and of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin. He also is on the board of trustees of the National Council on Economic Education, and of the Theater Development Fund. He is the recipient of 10 honorary degrees. Baumol is the author of more than 35 books, and hundreds of journal and newspaper articles. His writings have been translated into more than a dozen languages.Alan S. Blinder was born in New York City and attended Princeton University, where one of his teachers was William J. Baumol. After earning a master's degree at the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. at MIT, Blinder returned to Princeton, where he has taught since 1971. He is the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and co-director of Princeton's Center for Economic Policy Studies, which he founded. In January 1993, Blinder went to Washington as part of President Clinton's first Council of Economic Advisers. From June 1994 through January 1996, he served as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He thus played a role in formulating both the fiscal and monetary policies of the 1990s, topics discussed extensively in this book. For more than 10 years, Blinder wrote newspaper and magazine columns on economic policy, and his op-ed pieces still appear regularly in various newspapers. Blinder has been vice president of the American Economic Association and is a member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has two grown sons, and lives in Princeton with his wife, where he plays tennis as often as he can.
Table of Contents
PART I. GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH ECONOMICS 1. What Is Economics? 2. Scarcity and Choice: The Economic Problem 3. Supply and Demand: An Initial Look PART II. THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY 4. Consumer Choice: Individual and Market Demand 5. Demand and Elasticity 6. Production, Inputs, and Cost: Building Blocks for Supply Analysis 7. Output, Price, and Profit: The Importance of Marginal Analysis PART III. MARKETS, FROM COMPETITION TO MONOPOLY: VIRTUES AND VICES 8. The Firm and the Industry Under Perfect Competition 9. The Price System and the Case for Free Markets 10. Monopoly 11. Between Competition and Monopoly 12. The Market Mechanism: Shortcomings and Remedies 13. Microeconomics of the "New Economy": Innovation and Growth 14. Real Firms and their Financing: Stocks and Bonds PART IV. THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME 15. Pricing the Factors of Production 16. Labor: The Human Input 17. Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination PART V. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ECONOMY 18. Limiting Market Power: Regulation and Antitrust 19. Taxation and Resource Allocation 20. Externalities, the Environment and Natural Resources. PART VI. THE MACROECONOMY: AGGREGATE SUPPLY AND DEMAND 21. The Realm of Macroeconomics 22. The Goals of Macroeconomic Policy 23. Economic Growth: Theory and Policy 24. Aggregate Demand and the Powerful Consumer 25. Demand-Side Equilibrium: Unemployment or Inflation? 26. Supply-Side Equilibrium: Unemployment and Inflation? PART VII. FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICY 27. Managing Aggregate Demand: Fiscal Policy 28. Money and the Banking System 29. Monetary Policy and the National Economy 30. The Debate Over Monetary and Fiscal Policy 31. Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, and Growth 32. Inflation and Growth: The Phillips Curve PART VIII. THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY 33. International Trade and Comparative Advantage 34. The International Monetary System: Order or Disorder? 35. Exchange Rates and the Macroeconomy