Microeconomics

This thoroughly revised edition provides a complete, balanced introduction to microeconomics and to the most important issues facing the world's economies at the turn of the millennium.

• The new edition examines the following key topics―and more:
• the use of game theory in the study of firms' behavior
• the "good jobs/bad jobs" debate and the "deindustrialization" of America
• the antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice against Microsoft
• the challenges of reforming Social Security
• U.S. trade policy, especially regarding the importance of NAFTA

Chapter 1 introduces the issues of scarcity and choice, surveys national and international trends, and ends with a discussion of the importance and role of economic policy. The case studies in Chapter 6 on rent controls, agricultural price supports, and tariffs are designed to provide practice in applying the tools of price determination and elasticity that are covered in Chapters 4 and 5. Subsequent chapters cover short- and long-run costs, perfect competition, monopolistic competition and oligopoly, factor pricing, factor mobility, labor markets, and government in the market economy. The final three chapters, on taxation, the gains from trade, and trade policy, expand on the basics of microeconomic analysis that are presented throughout the book by providing current illustrations of the relevance of economic theory to contemporary policy situations.