Economics Today, 21st edition
Published by Pearson (May 16, 2025) © 2026
Roger LeRoy Miller

Title overview

For principles of economics courses.

Making economics a part of everyday life

Economics Today uses real, captivating examples to connect economics to our everyday lives and to today’s most cutting-edge issues. Through a range of critical-analysis features, author Roger Miller drives home economic theory by focusing on the practical applications and real implications of economic decisions.

The 21st Edition was revised to make learning more efficient for students. All-new examples keep the content fresh and focused on today’s most salient domestic and global economic events. A new feature on diversity and an expanded feature on artificial intelligence illustrate the cause and effect of economic principles.

Hallmark features of this title

Real-world applications

  • Chapter-opening vignettes present relatable stories that set up the concepts to be covered.
  • An Issues and Applications feature at the end of each chapter discusses the real-world implications of concepts discussed in the opening vignette and throughout the chapter.
  • An Economics in Your Life feature at the end of each chapter poses questions related to students’ lives and careers.

Active-learning opportunities

  • Real Application questions throughout the text relate the content to careers, managerial decision-making, future household behavior, voting choices and more.
  • Self-Check exercises let learners check their understanding before moving on.
  • Fundamental Points boxes list the concepts from each chapter students should focus on most.

New and updated features of this title

Hot topics and critical analysis

  • EXPANDED: AI: The Future Is Now feature considers how AI is impacting our economic lives. New examples include “Tech Giants Conserve the Use of Specialized Graphics Chips for Use with Generative AI” (Ch. 2) and “Artificial Intelligences Are Flooding Internet Sites with Junk” (Ch. 5).
  • NEW: Diversity Trends is a new feature examining the role of diversity in economic trends. Examples include “How Labor Shortages Induced More Women to Become Truck Drivers” (Ch. 3) and “How a Higher Minimum Wage Can Benefit Black Workers by Inducing Them to Commute” (Ch. 4).
  • NEW: Why Does...? is a new feature that gets to the bottom of economic policy and its consequences. An example is “Why does... establishing a maximum allowed rental price for apartments that is lower than the equilibrium rental rate generate an apartment shortage?” (Ch. 4).

Refreshed examples

  • REVISED: All-new examples, including policy and international examples, reflect the latest domestic and global economic events.
  • REVISED: The Did you know that...? engagement feature at the start of each chapter was revised to include new thought-provoking facts and events.
  • REVISED: The Issues and Applications feature at the end of each chapter was revised to offer a fresh take on economic implications.

Key features

Features of MyLab Economics for the 21st Edition

  • NEW: With Interactive Figures and Graphs in the Pearson+ eTextbook, students can change variables to see shifts in curves, movements along curves and changes in equilibrium values. By manipulating graphs, students can bring microeconomic concepts to life.
  • UPDATED: Video Lessons feature brief instructional videos, paired with key content in graphs and figures, to help students understand essential yet difficult-to-grasp economic concepts.
  • Economics Research Today video series showcases research from diverse economics scholars, including Emily Oster, Glen Loury, Seema Jayachandran and Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe.
  • Inclusive economics videos urge students to think critically about DE&I issues, such as the gender and racial wealth gap, inequality in the housing market and the effect of inequality on the economy.
  • Dynamic Study Modules pose a handful of questions and then respond to each student’s progress in real time. Learners deepen their grasp of concepts as they go.
  • With Podcast Exercises, students listen to a podcast and then answer questions about related economic principles.

Features of Pearson+ eTextbook for the 21st Edition

  • NEW: Interactive Figures and Graphs deepen students’ understanding of key concepts while letting them explore at their own pace.
  • With Self-Check exercises, learners can click on answers for immediate remediation.

Table of contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

  1. The Nature of Economics
  2. Scarcity and the World of Trade-Offs
  3. Demand and Supply
  4. Extensions of Demand and Supply Analysis
  5. Public Spending and Public Choice
  6. Funding the Public Sector

PART 2: INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

  1. The Macroeconomy: Unemployment, Inflation, and Deflation
  2. Measuring the Economy’s Performance
  3. Global Economic Growth and Development

PART 3: REAL GDP DETERMINATION AND FISCAL POLICY

  1. Real GDP and the Price Level in the Long Run
  2. Classical and Keynesian Macro Analyses
  3. Consumption, Real GDP, and the Multiplier
  4. Fiscal Policy
  5. Deficit Spending and the Public Debt

PART 4: MONEY, STABILIZATION, AND GROWTH

  1. Money, Banking, and Central Banking
  2. Domestic and International Dimensions of Monetary Policy
  3. Stabilization in an Integrated World Economy
  4. Policies and Prospects for Global Economic Growth

PART 5: DIMENSIONS OF MICROECONOMICS

  1. Demand and Supply Elasticity
  2. Consumer Choice
  3. Rents, Profits, and the Financial Environment of Business

PART 6: MARKET STRUCTURE, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, AND REGULATION

  1. The Firm: Cost and Output Determination
  2. Perfect Competition
  3. Monopoly
  4. Monopolistic Competition
  5. Oligopoly and Strategic Behavior
  6. Regulation and Antitrust Policy in a Globalized Economy

PART 7: LABOR RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

  1. The Labor Market
  2. Income, Poverty, and Health Care
  3. Environmental Economics

PART 8: GLOBAL ECONOMICS

  1. Comparative Advantage and the Open Economy
  2. Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments

Author bios

About our author

Roger LeRoy Miller studied at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a BS in economics while garnering the Departmental Prize. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude and was the recipient of numerous fellowships, including a National Science Foundation Fellowship. He chose to become a Lilly Honor Fellow at the University of Chicago and received his PhD in a record 2½ years.

He has taught at the University of Washington and the University of Miami, where he also co-founded The Law and Economics Center. He is currently Research Professor of Economics at the University of Texas, Arlington. In addition to writing Economics Today, he has authored or co-authored dozens of textbooks, including Applied Econometrics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Money and Banking and The Economics of Public Issues.

He continues to be a passionate athlete, regularly entering sanctioned triathlons, cross-country ski races and road-bike time trials.

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