Principles of Economics, Global Edition, 13th edition

Published by Pearson (June 21, 2019) © 2020
  • Karl E. Case
  • Ray C. Fair
  • Sharon E. Oster

Title overview

For two-semester courses in the principles of economics.

An introduction to the functioning of the economy and the power and breadth of economics

Reviewers tell us that Case/Fair/Oster is one of the all-time bestselling principles of economics texts because they trust it to be clear, thorough, and complete. Readers of Principles of Economics, 13th Edition come away with a basic understanding of how market economies function, an appreciation for the things they do well, and a sense of things they do poorly. With the latest research and added exercises, students begin to learn the art and science of economic thinking and start to look at some policy, and even personal decisions, in a different way.

Key features

  • A 3-tiered explanation of key concepts (using intuitive stories, followed by a table or graph, and in some cases, an equation that presents the concept with a mathematical formula) helps instructors effectively cover a large amount of material, and helps students to understand it.
  • Concept Checks act as 'speed bumps' that encourage students to stop and check their understanding of fundamental terms and concepts before moving on to the next section.
  • End-of-Chapter Critical-Thinking Questions and Problem Sets reinforce economic principles and give students the opportunity to practice what they've just learned.
  • Real-world examples and applications illustrate and reinforce key economic concepts.
  • The different types of research methodologies of economics are examined, giving students a sense of what the methodologies are and how to apply them in class and beyond.
  • Keynesian Cross material is integrated throughout the text and builds up to the AD/AS model so that students won't mistakenly apply what they've learned about simple demand and supply to aggregate demand and supply.

New to this edition

  • Chapters have been reworked for better flow and improved readability. More thorough discussion of and focus on important topics and issues have been added to the 13th Edition.
  • Economics in Practice boxes focus on recent research and events that support key concepts in the chapter. This helps students to think deeply about what they've read and make connections between what they learn in class and how it can apply to their jobs in the real world.
  • Important macroeconomic data throughout the text has been updated, highlighting the slow recovery from the 2008-2009 recession, giving students a good idea of what has been happening to the economy since they left high school.
  • The introduction of a competitive market model first, followed by noncompetitive market structures gives students a clear understanding of basic economic theory and how market opportunities operate.

Key features

Highlights of the Digital Update for MyLab Economics

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • NEW: Learning Catalytics questions help students see economics through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion and focus on growth, diverse markets, policy, etc.
  • NEW: With Podcast Exercises, students listen to a podcast and then answer questions about the economic principles covered within.
  • 27 NEW: Inclusive Economics Videos focus on topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion in economics, including the gender and racial wealth gap, inequality in the housing market, and the effect of inequality on the economy. They encourage students to think critically about models, messy data, and what happens when the models don’t work.

Features of MyLab Economics for the 13th Edition; published 2019

  • NEW: Digital Interactives use real-time data from FRED™ to promote critical thinking and the application of key economic principles.
  • NEW: News stories and exercises ask students to apply economic concepts to current events.
  • Worksheets give students practice with graphing and other key topics. They also help to develop critical-thinking skills via short-answer student responses.

Table of contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS

  1. 1. The Scope and Method of Economics
  2. 2. The Economic Problem: Scarcity and Choice
  3. 3. Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium
  4. 4. Demand and Supply Applications
  5. 5. Elasticity

PART II: THE MARKET SYSTEM

  1. 6. Household Behavior and Consumer Choice
  2. 7. The Production Process: The Behavior of Profit-Maximizing Firms
  3. 8. Short-Run Costs and Output Decisions
  4. 9. Long-Run Costs and Output Decisions
  5. 10. Input Demand: The Labor and Land Markets
  6. 11. Input Demand: The Capital Market and the Investment Decision
  7. 12. General Equilibrium and the Efficiency of Perfect Competition

PART III: MARKET IMPERFECTIONS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

  1. 13. Monopoly and Antitrust Policy

Author bios

About our authors

Karl E. Case (1946 to 2016) was a Professor of Economics Emeritus at Wellesley College where he taught for 34 years, serving several tours of duty as Department Chair. He was a Senior Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and a founding partner in the real estate research firm of Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss, which produces the S&P Case-Shiller Index of home prices. He served as a member of the Index Advisory Committee of Standard and Poor's, and on the Academic Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Professor Case received his BA from Miami University in 1968, spent 3 years on active duty in the Army, and received his PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1976.

Professor Case's research was in the areas of real estate, housing, and public finance. He authored or coauthored five books, including Principles of Economics, Economics and Tax Policy, and Property Taxation: The Need for Reform, and published numerous articles in professional journals, focused on real estate markets and prices.

Chip, as he was known to his many friends and colleagues, contributed to this textbook throughout its many editions. In his honor and with respect for his substantial contributions to the text and the discipline of economics, his co-authors plan to keep his name on the text for all future editions.

Ray C. Fair is Professor of Economics at Yale University. He is a member of the Cowles Foundation at Yale and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He received a BA in Economics from Fresno State College in 1964 and a PhD in Economics from MIT in 1968. He taught at Princeton University from 1968 to 1974. Professor Fair has taught introductory and intermediate macroeconomics at Yale since 1974. He has also taught graduate courses in macroeconomic theory and macroeconometrics.

Professor Fair's research has primarily been in the areas of macroeconomics and econometrics, with particular emphasis on macroeconometric model building. He has also done work in the areas of finance, voting behavior, and aging in sports. His publications include Specification, Estimation, and Analysis of Macroeconometric Models (Harvard Press, 1984); Testing Macroeconometric Models (Harvard Press, 1994); Estimating How the Macroeconomy Works (Harvard Press, 2004), and Predicting Presidential Elections and Other Things (Stanford University Press, 2012).

Professor Fair's US and multicountry models are available for use at fairmodel.econ.yale.edu, free of charge. Many teachers have found that having students work with the US model on the internet is a useful complement to an introductory macroeconomics course.

Sharon M. Oster is the Frederic Wolfe Professor of Economics and Management and former Dean of the Yale School of Management. Professor Oster joined Case and Fair as a coauthor in the 9th edition of this book. Professor Oster has a BA in Economics from Hofstra University and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

Professor Oster's research is in the area of industrial organization. She has worked on problems of diffusion of innovation in a number of different industries, on the effect of regulations on business, and on competitive strategy. She has published a number of articles in these areas and is the author of several books, including Modern Competitive Analysis and The Strategic Management of Nonprofits.

Prior to joining the School of Management at Yale, Professor Oster taught for a number of years in Yale's Department of Economics. In the department, Professor Oster taught introductory and intermediate microeconomics to undergraduates as well as several graduate courses in industrial organization. Since 1982, Professor Oster has taught primarily in the Management School, where she teaches the core microeconomics class for MBA students and a course in the area of competitive strategy. Professor Oster also consults widely for businesses and nonprofit organizations and has served on the boards of several publicly traded companies and nonprofit organizations.

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