Microeconomic Essentials: Understanding Economics in the News

A concise and nontechnical introduction to microeconomics, emphasizing concepts over mathematics, with real-world examples and applications.

This concise and nontechnical introduction to microeconomics emphasizes concepts over mathematics. Keeping in mind that sometimes the most accurate model is not very useful in the real world, Microeconomic Essentials balances economics as mathematics with economics as a social process. Microeconomics is part of daily life; gas prices, wage increases, the rising cost of health care, international trade: all are microeconomic topics. Therefore, like its predecessor, Macroeconomic Essentials, this textbook accompanies its explanations with examples and real-world applications.

The book covers the basic market model of supply and demand, showing how this “powerhouse” model can explain most price changes in the market. It discusses government intervention in the market; consumer theory and utility maximization, considering both concepts and real-world issues; the theory of the firm, “de-mathematizing” marginal revenue, marginal cost, and other topics; monopolies; perfect competition; and imperfect competition and oligopolies, as illustrated by OPEC, Coke, and Pepsi. It discusses game theory, reviewing the familiar models and concepts—while cautioning that game theory is best thought of as “a state of mind”; input markets; welfare and public economics, applying the tools presented in previous chapters; and international trade. Each chapter ends with examples and exercises. Appendixes supply answers to sample exam questions and solutions to even-numbered exercises.

Jay Prag is Clinical Full Professor at Claremont Graduate University's Drucker School of Management. He is the coauthor (with Peter E. Kennedy) of Macroeconomic Essentials, fourth edition (MIT Press).