Microeconomics: improve your world

"We offer the second edition of this text as a resource for professors who, like us, want to show students that economics can make a positive impact-in their own lives and in society as a whole. We designed the text with our own version of a "dual mandate": to deliver core economic concepts along with exciting new ideas in economic thought and to keep student learners engaged by confronting issues that are important in the world. Our intention is that this approach will help students see economics as a tool to better one's own life, promote better public policies, and run better businesses around the world."

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Author the Authors -- Brief Contents -- Improve your world -- Inspire Student Learning -- Digital Solutions -- Connect -- Detailed Content Changes -- Acknowledgments -- Detailed Contents -- Feature Boxes -- Part 1: The Power of Economics -- Chapter 1: Economics and Life -- Making an Impact with Small Loans -- The Basic Insights of Economics -- Scarcity -- Opportunity cost and marginal decision making -- Incentives -- Efficiency -- An Economist's Problem-Solving Toolbox -- Correlation and causation -- Models -- Positive and normative analysis -- Conclusion -- Chapter 2: Specialization and Exchange -- The Origins of a T-Shirt -- Production Possibilities -- Drawing the production possibilities frontier -- Choosing among production possibilities -- Shifting the production possibilities frontier -- Absolute and Comparative Advantage -- Absolute advantage -- Comparative advantage -- Why Trade? -- Specialization -- Gains from trade -- Comparative advantage over time -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Math Essentials: Understanding Graphs and Slope -- Creating a Graph -- Graphs of one variable -- Graphs of two variables -- Slope -- Calculating slope -- The direction of a slope -- The steepness of a slope -- Part 2: Supply and Demand -- Chapter 3: Markets -- Mobiles Go Global -- Markets -- What is a market? -- What is a competitive market? -- Demand -- The demand curve -- Determinants of demand -- Shifts in the demand curve -- Supply -- The supply curve -- Determinants of supply -- Shifts in the supply curve -- Market Equilibrium -- Reaching equilibrium -- Changes in equilibrium -- Conclusion -- Appendix B: Math Essentials: Working with Linear Equations -- Interpreting the Equation of a Line -- Turning a graph into an equation -- Turning an equation into a graph -- Equations with x and y reversed -- Shifts and Pivots.