Synopses & Reviews
MICROECONOMICS: PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CHOICE, Fifteenth Edition, reflects current economic conditions, enabling you to apply economic concepts to the real world. The up-to-date text includes analysis and explanation of measures of economic activity in today's market. It also includes highlights of the recession of 2008-2009, and an in-depth look at the lives and contributions of notable economists. MICROECONOMICS: PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CHOICE dispels common economic myths. The text uses the "invisible hand" metaphor to explain economic theory, demonstrating how it works to stimulate the economy. The fifteenth edition includes online learning solutions to improve your learning outcomes. Graphing tutorials and videos embedded within the interactive reader support your classroom work and improve your performance.
About the Author
James D. Gwartney holds the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University, where he directs the Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education. His writings have been widely published in both professional journals and popular media. He is the co-author of Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know about Wealth and Prosperity (St. Martin's Press, 2005), a primer on economics and personal finance. Gwartney's current research focuses on the measurement and determination of factors that influence cross-country differences in income levels and growth rates. In this regard he is the coauthor (with Robert Lawson) of the annual report, Economic Freedom of the World, which provides information on the institutions and policies of 141 countries. This data set, published by a worldwide network of institutes in 79 countries, is widely used by scholars investigating topics ranging from economic growth to peaceful relations among nations. He served as Chief Economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress during 1999-2000. Gwartney was invited by the incoming Putin Administration in March 2000 to make presentations and have discussions with leading Russian economists concerning the future of the Russian economy. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Adam Smith Award of the Association of Private Enterprise Education for his contribution to the advancement of free market ideals. He is a past President of the Southern Economic Association and the Association for Private Enterprise Education. Gwartney earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington.
Table of Contents
Part I: THE ECONOMIC WAY OF THINKING. 1. The Economic Approach. 2. Some Tools of the Economist. Part II: MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT. 3. Demand, Supply, and the Market Process. 4. Supply and Demand: Applications and Extensions. 5. Difficult Cases for the Market, and the Role of Government. 6. The Economics of Political Action. Part III: CORE MICROECONOMICS. 7. Consumer Choice and Elasticity. 8. Costs and the Supply of Goods. 9. Price Takers and the Competitive Process. 10. Price-Searcher Markets with Low Entry Barriers. 11. Price-Searcher Markets with High Entry Barriers. 12. The Supply of and Demand for Productive Resources. 13. Earnings, Productivity, and the Job Market. 14. Investment, the Capital Market, and the Wealth of Nations. 15. Income Inequality and Poverty. Part IV: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS. 16. Gaining from International Trade. Part V: APPLYING THE BASICS: SPECIAL TOPICS IN ECONOMICS. Special Topic 1. Government Spending and Taxation. Special Topic 2. The Economics of Social Security. Special Topic 3. The Stock Market: Its Function, Performance, and Potential as an Investment Opportunity. Special Topic 4. Great Debates in Economics: Keynes versus Hayek. Special Topic 5. The Crisis of 2008: Causes and Lessons for the Future. Special Topic 6. Lessons from the Great Depression. Special Topic 7. The Federal Budget and the National Debt. Special Topic 8. Earnings Differences Between Men and Women. Special Topic 9. Do Labor Unions Increase the Wages of Workers? Special Topic 10. The Question of Resource Exhaustion. Special Topic 11. Difficult Environmental Cases and the Role of Government. Appendix A. General Business and Economics Indicators for the United States. Appendix B. Answers to Selected Critical Analysis Questions.