Economics: The Basics

Overview: Mandel’s Economics: The Basics is one of the first books on the market to be constructed "from the ground up" specifically for the one term survey course, designed for students who will not go on to take other economics courses. Mike Mandel, the former Chief Economist for BusinessWeek magazine,, now at The Wharton School, writes in a journalistic style, drawing upon news articles and experience throughout the text to present economic concepts in a way that is understandable, relevant, and exciting for a broad audience. The 2nd edition’s core approach focuses on developing a student’s economic literacy without overwhelming, and providing a window into what’s happening in the economy right now including globalization and the aftermath of the financial crisis. Mandel’s current examples, journalistic writing style, and accessible presentation of math and graphs will help instructors overcome the common challenges of this course, and make the material more approachable and attractive to a wide range of students.