Table of Contents

I.Getting Acquainted with Economics
1.WHAT IS ECONOMICS?
2.THE ECONOMY: MYTH AND REALITY
3.THE FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC PROBLEM: SCARCITY AND CHOICE
4.SUPPLY AND DEMAND: AN INITIAL LOOK
II.The Building Blocks of Demand and Supply
5.CONSUMER CHOICE: INDIVIDUAL AND MARKET DEMAND
6.DEMAND AND ELASTICITY
7.PRODUCTION, INPUTS, AND COST: BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUPPLY ANALYSIS
8.OUTPUT, PRICE, AND PROFIT: THE IMPORTANCE OF MARGINAL ANALYSIS
9.THE FINANCIAL MARKETS AND THE ECONOMY: THE TAIL THAT WAGS THE DOG?
III.The Virtues of Free Markets
10.THE FIRM AND THE INDUSTRY UNDER PERFECT COMPETITION
11.THE CASE FOR FREE MARKETS: THE PRICE SYSTEM
IV.The Limitations of Free Markets
12.MONOPOLY
13.BETWEEN COMPETITION AND MONOPOLY
14.LIMITING MARKET POWER: ANTITRUST AND REGULATION
15.THE SHORTCOMINGS OF FREE MARKETS
16.EXTERNALITIES, EXTERNALITEIS, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND NATURAL RESOURCES
17.TAXATION AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION
V.The Distribution of Income
18.PRICING THE FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
19.LABOR AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE HUMAN INPUTS
20.POVERTY, INEQUALITY, AND DISCRIMINATION
VI.The United States in the World Economy
21.INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
VII.The Economy Today
22.CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE U.S. ECONOMY

About the Author

William J. Baumol received his B.S.S. at the College of the City of New York and his Ph.D. at the University of London. He was professor of economics at New York University and senior research economist and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He was a frequent management consultant to major firms in a wide variety of industries in the United States and other countries as well as to a number of governmental agencies. He was former president of the American Economic Association and three other professional societies. Dr. Baumol served as an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, created by the U.S. Congress, as well as a member of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Baumol authored more than 35 books as well as hundreds of journal and newspaper articles that have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Alan S. Blinder earned his B.A. at Princeton University, his M.A. at the London School of Economics and his Ph.D. at MIT. He teaches at Princeton University and most recently authored ADVICE AND DISSENT (Basic Books, 2018), which is about the very different worldviews of economists and politicians�and the consequences of that clash. Dr. Blinder served on President Clinton's first Council of Economic Advisers and then as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, thereby playing a role in formulating both the fiscal and monetary policies of the 1990s. Dr. Blinder, now a regular columnist for The Wall Street Journal, has written newspaper and magazine columns on economic policy for more than thirty years. He is a past vice president and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. John L. Solow received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Iowa. Dr. Solow has published articles in the areas of industrial organization, sports economics and energy economics, and his research interests include antitrust law and economics sports economics and public policy. He has worked at the Federal Energy Administration and the Electric Power Research Institute. In addition, he has served as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Justice, Mid-American Energy, Qwest Telecommunications and numerous law firms. Dr. Solow has also been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Monash University in Australia.