Because Knetbooks knows college students. Our rental program is designed to save you time and money. Whether you need a textbook for a semester, quarter or even a summer session, we have an option for you. Simply select a rental period, enter your information and your book will be on its way!
| List of Key Graphs | p. vi |
| Preface | p. vii |
| Contributors | p. xiii |
| An Introduction to Economics and the Economy | |
| To the Student | p. 2 |
| The Nature and Method of Economics | p. 3 |
| The Economic Perspective | p. 3 |
| Consider This: Free for All? | p. 4 |
| Why Study Economics? | p. 5 |
| Economic Methodology | p. 6 |
| Ma... MORE | p. 9 |
| Pitfalls to Sound Reasoning | p. 10 |
| A Look Ahead | p. 12 |
| Last Word: Fast-Food Lines: An Economic Perspective | p. 12 |
| Graphs and Their Meaning | p. 15 |
| The Economizing Problem | p. 22 |
| The Foundation of Economics | p. 22 |
| Economics: Employment and Efficiency | p. 24 |
| Unemployment, Growth, and the Future | p. 28 |
| Consider This: A Matter of Degrees: Is College Worth the Cost? | p. 32 |
| Economic Systems | p. 33 |
| The Circular Flow Model | p. 34 |
| Last Word: September 11, 2001, and the War on Terrorism | p. 35 |
| Individual Markets: Demand and Supply | p. 39 |
| Markets | p. 39 |
| Demand | p. 40 |
| Supply | p. 45 |
| Supply and Demand: Market Equilibrium | p. 48 |
| Consider This: The Cutting Edge | p. 50 |
| Application: Government-Set Prices | p. 52 |
| Last Word: Ticket Scalping: A Bum Rap? | p. 55 |
| Applications and Extensions of Supply and Demand Analysis | p. 59 |
| Changes in Supply and Demand | p. 1 |
| Preset Prices | p. 4 |
| Consider This: Taking Back a "Gift" | p. 5 |
| Nonpriced Goods: The American Bison | p. 6 |
| Consumer and Producer Surplus | p. 7 |
| Last Word: Efficiency Gains from Generic Drugs | p. 11 |
| The Market System | p. 60 |
| Characteristics of the Market System | p. 60 |
| The Market System at Work | p. 64 |
| Consider This: McHits and McMisses | p. 66 |
| Competition and the "Invisible Hand" | p. 69 |
| Last Word: Shuffling the Deck | p. 70 |
| The U.S. Economy: Private and Public Sectors | p. 73 |
| Households as Income Receivers | p. 73 |
| Households as Spenders | p. 74 |
| The Business Population | p. 75 |
| Legal Forms of Businesses | p. 76 |
| The Public Sector: Government's Role | p. 79 |
| Consider This: Street Entertainers | p. 82 |
| The Circular Flow Revisited | p. 83 |
| Government Finance | p. 84 |
| Federal Finance | p. 85 |
| State and Local Finance | p. 87 |
| Last Word: The Financing of Corporations | p. 88 |
| The United States in the Global Economy | p. 91 |
| International Linkages | p. 91 |
| The United States and World Trade | p. 92 |
| Specialization and Comparative Advantage | p. 96 |
| The Foreign Exchange Market | p. 99 |
| Consider This: A ticket to Ride | p. 100 |
| Government and Trade | p. 101 |
| Multilateral Trade Agreements and Free-Trade Zones | p. 103 |
| Global Competition | p. 106 |
| Last Word: Petition of the Candlemakers, 1845 | p. 106 |
| Microeconomics of Product Markets | |
| Elasticity of Demand and Supply | p. 112 |
| Price Elasticity of Demand | p. 112 |
| Consider This: A Bit of a Stretch | p. 114 |
| Price Elasticity of Supply | p. 120 |
| Cross Elasticity and Income Elasticity of Demand | p. 123 |
| Last Word: Elasticity and Pricing Power: Why Different Consumers Pay Different Prices | p. 125 |
| Consumer Behavior and Utility Maximization | p. 128 |
| A Closer Look at the Law of Demand | p. 128 |
| Consider This: Vending Machines and Marginal Utility | p. 131 |
| Theory of Consumer Behavior | p. 132 |
| Utility Maximization and the Demand Curve | p. 134 |
| Applications and Extensions | p. 135 |
| Last Word: Criminal Behavior | p. 138 |
| Appendix to Chapter 8: Indifference Curve Analysis | p. 142 |
| The Costs of Production | p. 148 |
| Economic Costs | p. 148 |
| Short-Run Production Relationships | p. 150 |
| Consider This: Diminishing Returns from Study | p. 151 |
| Short-Run Production Costs | p. 154 |
| Long-Run Production Costs | p. 159 |
| Applications and Illustrations | p. 164 |
| Last Word: Irrelevancy of Sunk Costs | p. 165 |
| Pure Competition | p. 169 |
| Four Market Models | p. 169 |
| Pure Competition: Characteristics and Occurrence | p. 170 |
| Demand as Seen by a Purely Competitive Seller | p. 171 |
| Profit Maximization in the Short Run | p. 172 |
| Consider This: The Still There Motel | p. 179 |
| Marginal Cost and Short-Run Supply | p. 179 |
| Profit Maximization in the Long Run | p. 183 |
| Pure Competition and Efficiency | p. 187 |
| Last Word: Pure Competition and Consumer Surplus | p. 190 |
| Pure Monopoly | p. 194 |
| An Introduction to Pure Monopoly | p. 194 |
| Barriers to Entry | p. 195 |
| Monopoly Demand | p. 197 |
| Output and Price Determination | p. 200 |
| Economic Effects of Monopoly | p. 203 |
| Price Discrimination | p. 207 |
| Consider This: Price Discrimination at the Ballpark | p. 208 |
| Regulated Monopoly | p. 209 |
| Last Word: De Beers' Diamonds: Are Monopolies Forever? | p. 212 |
| Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly | p. 216 |
| Monopolistic Competition | p. 216 |
| Price and Output in Monopolistic Competition | p. 218 |
| Monopolistic Competition and Efficiency | p. 220 |
| Product Variety | p. 222 |
| Oligopoly | p. 223 |
| Oligopoly Behavior: A Game-Theory Overview | p. 225 |
| Consider This: Creative Strategic Behavior | p. 226 |
| Three Oligopoly Models | p. 227 |
| Oligopoly and Advertising | p. 233 |
| Oligopoly and Efficiency | p. 235 |
| Last Word: Oligopoly in the Beer Industry | p. 236 |
| Technology, R&D, and Efficiency | p. 240 |
| Invention, Innovation, and Diffusion | p. 240 |
| Role of Entrepreneurs and Other Innovators | p. 242 |
| A Firm's Optimal Amount of R&D | p. 244 |
| Increased Profit via Innovation | p. 246 |
| Imitation and R&D Incentives | p. 249 |
| Consider This: Trade Secrets | p. 250 |
| Role of Market Structure | p. 251 |
| Technological Advance and Efficiency | p. 253 |
| Last Word: On the Path to the Personal Computer and Internet | p. 254 |
| Microeconomics of Resource Markets | |
| The Demand for Resources | p. 260 |
| Significance of Resource Pricing | p. 260 |
| Marginal Productivity Theory of Resource Demand | p. 261 |
| Consider This: She's The One | p. 265 |
| Determinants of Resource Demand | p. 265 |
| Elasticity of Resource Demand | p. 269 |
| Optimal Combination of Resources | p. 270 |
| Marginal Productivity Theory of Income Distribution | p. 272 |
| Last Word: Input Substitution: The Case of ATMs | p. 273 |
| Wage Determination | p. 277 |
| Labor, Wages, and Earnings | p. 277 |
| General Level of Wages | p. 278 |
| A Purely Competitive Labor Market | p. 280 |
| Monopsony Model | p. 282 |
| Three Union Models | p. 284 |
| Bilateral Monopoly Model | p. 287 |
| The Minimum-Wage Controversy | p. 288 |
| Wage Differentials | p. 289 |
| Consider This: My Entire Life | p. 292 |
| Pay for Performance | p. 293 |
| Last Word: Are Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Overpaid? | p. 295 |
| Rent, Interest, and Profit | p. 298 |
| Economic Rent | p. 298 |
| Interest | p. 301 |
| Consider This: That Is Interest | p. 303 |
| Economic Profit | p. 307 |
| Last Word: Determining the Price of Credit | p. 309 |
| Income Shares | p. 310 |
| Microeconomics of Government | |
| Government and Market Failure | p. 314 |
| Public Goods | p. 314 |
| Externalities | p. 318 |
| Information Failures | p. 328 |
| Consider This: "Lemons" | p. 328 |
| Last Word: Lojack: A Case of Positive Externalities | p. 332 |
| Public Choice Theory and the Economics of Taxation | p. 336 |
| Revealing Preferences through Majority Voting | p. 336 |
| Government Failure | p. 340 |
| Apportioning the Tax Burden | p. 342 |
| Tax Incidence and Efficiency Loss | p. 345 |
| Last Word: "Government Failure" in the News | p. 350 |
| Microeconomic Issues and Policies | |
| Antitrust Policy and Regulation | p. 354 |
| The Antitrust Laws | p. 354 |
| Antitrust Policy: Issues and Impacts | p. 356 |
| Consider This: Of Catfish and Sneakers (and Other Things in Common) | p. 360 |
| Industrial Regulation | p. 360 |
| Deregulation | p. 362 |
| Social Regulation | p. 363 |
| Last Word: The United States v. Microsoft | p. 366 |
| Agriculture: Economics and Policy | p. 370 |
| Economics of Agriculture | p. 370 |
| Economics of Farm Policy | p. 376 |
| Criticisms and Politics | p. 380 |
| Recent Reform | p. 382 |
| Last Word: The Sugar Program: A Sweet Deal | p. 384 |
| Income Inequality and Poverty | p. 387 |
| Facts about Income Inequality | p. 387 |
| Causes of Income Inequality | p. 390 |
| Trends in Income Inequality | p. 392 |
| Equality versus Efficiency | p. 394 |
| Consider This: Slicing the Pizza | p. 396 |
| The Economics of Poverty | p. 396 |
| The Income-Maintenance System | p. 398 |
| Welfare: Goals and Conflicts | p. 400 |
| Welfare Reform | p. 401 |
| Last Word: U.S. Family Wealth and Its Distribution | p. 402 |
| Labor Market Institutions and Issues: Unionism, Discrimination, Immigration | p. 406 |
| Unionism in America | p. 406 |
| Collective Bargaining | p. 408 |
| Economic Effects of Unions | p. 410 |
| Labor Market Discrimination | p. 413 |
| Economic Analysis of Discrimination | p. 415 |
| Antidiscrimination Policies and Issues | p. 419 |
| Immigration | p. 421 |
| Last Word: Orchestrating Impartiality | p. 424 |
| The Economics of Health Care | p. 428 |
| The Health Care Industry | p. 428 |
| Twin Problems: Costs and Access | p. 428 |
| High and Rising Health Care Costs | p. 429 |
| Limited Access | p. 432 |
| Why the Rapid Rise in Costs? | p. 432 |
| Consider This: What's Cold and Clammy and Out of Date? | p. 438 |
| Reform of the Health Care System | p. 438 |
| Last Word: A Market for Human Organs? | p. 442 |
| International Economics and the World Economy | |
| International Trade | p. 446 |
| Some Key Facts | p. 446 |
| The Economic Basis for Trade | p. 447 |
| Comparative Advantage: Graphical Analysis | p. 448 |
| Supply and Demand Analysis of Exports and Imports | p. 453 |
| Trade Barriers | p. 456 |
| The Case for Protection: A Critical Review | p. 459 |
| Consider This: Shooting Yourself in the Foot | p. 460 |
| Last Word: The WTO Protests | p. 462 |
| The World Trade Organization | p. 463 |
| Exchange Rates, the Balance of Payments, and Trade Deficits | p. 467 |
| Financing International Trade | p. 467 |
| The Balance of Payments | p. 468 |
| Flexible Exchange Rates | p. 471 |
| Consider This: The Big Mac Index | p. 473 |
| Fixed Exchange Rates | p. 476 |
| International Exchange-Rate Systems | p. 478 |
| Recent U.S. Trade Deficits | p. 482 |
| Last Word: Speculation in Currency Markets | p. 484 |
| Transition Economies: Russia and China | p. 488 |
| Ideology and Institutions | p. 1 |
| State Ownership and Central Planning | p. 2 |
| Problems and Central Planning | p. 3 |
| Collapse of the Soviet Economy | p. 5 |
| The Russian Transition to a Market System | p. 6 |
| Market Reforms in China | p. 10 |
| Outcomes and Prospects | p. 11 |
| Conclusion | p. 13 |
| Last Word: Police Smash Down Smirnov's Doors | p. 14 |
| Glossary | p. 1 |
| Index | |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
Campbell R. McConnell taught at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln from 1953 through 1990.
Stanley L. Brue is a professor at Pacific Lutheran University.