"Daron Acemoglu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David Laibson, Harvard University
John List, University of Chicago"
"I. Introduction to Economics
1. The Principles and Practice of Economics
2. Economic Methods and Economic Questions
3. Optimization: Doing the Best You Can
4. Demand, Supply, and Equilibrium
II. Foundations of Microeconomics
5. Consumers and Incentives
6. Sellers and Incentives
7. Perfect Competition and the Invisible Hand
8. Trade
9. Externalities and Public Goods
10. The Government in the Economy: Taxation and Regulation
11. Markets for Factors of Production
III. Market Structure
12. Monopoly
13. Game Theory and Strategic Play
14. Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition
IV. Extending the Microeconomic Toolbox
15. Trade-offs Involving Time and Risk
16. The Economics of Information
17. Auctions and Bargaining
18. Social Economics
V. Introduction to Macroeconomics
19. The Wealth of Nations: Defining and Measuring Macroeconomic Aggregates
20. Aggregate Incomes
VI. Long-Run Growth and Development
21. Economic Growth
22. Why Isn't the Whole World Developed?
VII. Equilibrium in the Macroeconomy
23. Employment and Unemployment
24. Credit Markets
25. The Monetary System
VIII. Short-Run Fluctuations and Macroeconomic Policy
26. Short-run Fluctuations
27. Countercyclical Macroeconomic Policy
IX. Macroeconomics in a Global Economy
28. Macroeconomics and International Trade
29. Open Economy Macroeconomics
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"Three key principles — optimization, equilibrium, and empiricism — lie at the heart of the authors' approach. Chapters 1–4 introduce these key themes, and lay the groundwork for understanding the economic way of thinking about the world.
1. Optimization. The first principle — that people try to choose the best available option — is optimization. Economists believe that optimization explains most choices people make, including minor decisions like deciding whether to eat a cheeseburger, and major decisions like deciding whom to date or marry. When people fail to optimize perfectly, economic reasoning can be used to analyze the mistake and to suggest a better course of action.
2. Equilibrium. Economic systems tend toward equilibrium, wherein each economic actor feels that he or she cannot do any better by picking another course of action. This principle highlights the connections among economic actors and their choices. In a state of equilibrium, consumers and purveyors of goods and services are simultaneously optimizing, and their behaviors are consequently intertwined.
3. Empiricism. While the first two key principles are conceptual, the third is methodological. Economists use data to test economic theories, learn about the world, and speak to policymakers. The emphasis on matching theories with real-world data to answer specific questions helps to show students the evidence behind the theory, making economics concrete, interesting, and fun.
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