Microeconomics: Principles and Applications

Book Preface

Microeconomics: Principles and Applications is about economic principles and how economists use them to understand the world. It was conceived, written, and for the sixth edition, substantially revised to help your students focus on those basic principles and applications.

We originally decided to write this book because we thought that existing texts tended to fall into one of three categories. In the first category are the encyclopedias— the heavy tomes with a section or a paragraph on every topic or subtopic you might possibly want to present to your students. These books are often useful as reference tools. But because they cover so many topics—many of them superficially—the central themes and ideas can be lost in the shuffle.

The second type of text we call the “scrapbook.” In an effort to elevate student interest, these books insert multicolored boxes, news clippings, interviews, cartoons, and whatever else they can find to jolt the reader on each page. While these special features are often entertaining, there is a trade-off: These books sacrifice a logical, focused presentation of the material. Once again, the central themes and ideas are often lost.

Finally, a third type of text, perhaps in response to the first two, tries to do less in every area—a lot less. But instead of just omitting extraneous or inessential details, these texts often throw out key ideas, models, and concepts. Students who use these books may think that economics is overly simplified and unrealistic. After the course, they may be less prepared to go on in the field, or to think about the economy on their own.

A Distinctive Approach

Our approach is very different. We believe that the best way to teach principles is to present economics as a coherent, unified subject. This does not happen automatically. On the contrary, principles students often miss the unity of what we call “the economic way of thinking.” The principles course then appears to be just “one thing after another,” rather than the coherent presentation we aim for. For example, without proper guidance, students may view the analysis of goods markets, labor markets, and financial markets as entirely different phenomena, rather than as a repeated application of the same methodology with a new twist here and there.