What Every Economics Student Needs to Know and Doesn't Get in the Usual Principles TextWhat Every Economics Student Needs to Know and Doesn't Get in the Usual Principles Text
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Book, 2014
Current format, Book, 2014, , All copies in use.Book, 2014
Current format, Book, 2014, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsThis textbook aims to present a more complete perspective on economics by taking into account the concept that while markets work in some circumstances, they only do so within an appropriate institutional framework and only work inefficiently in others. The author explores the circumstances that prevent real markets from working, theories, and remedies for their failure. He offers alternative perspectives based on empirical evidence instead of theory and focuses on values that enhance the quality of life of people. He argues that markets are not omniscient nor omnipotent and that they have limitations, and considers microeconomic issues: the nature of demand from a behavioral perspective; the importance of getting rid of the rational-agent utility-maximizing model and the importance of intuition, emotion, power, and status seeking in economic behavior; how markets are not efficient and how they need to be reformed; firms and competition; the determination of the rewards of labor and the distribution of income; how markets should be regulated; and the application of these ideas to issues in real-world economics, such as the minimum wage, unions, redistribution, living standards, and poverty. He also addresses macroeconomics concepts like aggregates and variables, the role of the government, international trade, the environment and sustainable economic growth, and the cause and consequences of the financial crisis of 2008. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
This short book explores a core group of 40 topics that tend to go unexplored in an Introductory Economics course. Though not a replacement for an introductory text, the work is intended as a supplement to provoke further thought and discussion by juxtaposing blackboard models of the economy with empirical observations.
Each chapter starts with a short "refresher" of standard neoclassical economic modelling before getting into real world economic life. Komlos shows how misleading it can be to mechanically apply the perfect competition model in an oligopolistic environment where only an insignificant share of economic activity takes place in perfectly competitive conditions. Most economics texts introduce the notion of oligopoly and differentiate it from the perfect competition model with its focus on "price takers." Komlos contends that oligopolies are "price makers" like monopolies and cause consumers and economies nearly as much harm. Likewise, most textbook authors eschew any distortions of market pricing by government, but there is usually little discussion of the real impact of minimum wages, which Komlos corrects.
The book is an affordable supplement for all basic economics courses or for anyone who wants to review the basic ideas of economics with clear eyes.
This short book explores a core group of 40 topics that tend to go unexplored in an Introductory Economics course. Though not a replacement for an introductory text, the work is intended as a supplement to provoke further thought and discussion by juxtaposing blackboard models of the economy with empirical observations.
Each chapter starts with a short "refresher" of standard neoclassical economic modelling before getting into real world economic life. Komlos shows how misleading it can be to mechanically apply the perfect competition model in an oligopolistic environment where only an insignificant share of economic activity takes place in perfectly competitive conditions. Most economics texts introduce the notion of oligopoly and differentiate it from the perfect competition model with its focus on "price takers." Komlos contends that oligopolies are "price makers" like monopolies and cause consumers and economies nearly as much harm. Likewise, most textbook authors eschew any distortions of market pricing by government, but there is usually little discussion of the real impact of minimum wages, which Komlos corrects.
The book is an affordable supplement for all basic economics courses or for anyone who wants to review the basic ideas of economics with clear eyes.
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- Armonk, New York : M.E. Sharpe, c2014.
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