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Economics, 8th edition

Published by Pearson (January 30, 2020) © 2021

  • Glenn Hubbard Columbia University
  • Anthony Patrick O'Brien Lehigh University

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Title overview

For 2-semester principles of economics courses.

The relevance of economics, shown through real-world business examples

Economics makes economic principles relevant by demonstrating how real businesses use them to make decisions every day. For instructors, it eases the challenge of conveying how these principles directly impact students' lives.

The 8th Edition exemplifies recent developments in US and world economies through new real-world business and policy examples. No matter their career path, whether it's opening an art studio, trading on Wall Street or bartending at the local pub, students will benefit from grasping the economic forces behind their work.

Hallmark features of this title

Complete economics coverage

  • Real-world business examples and applications help students become educated consumers, voters, and citizens.
  • Economics in Your Life & Career boxes ask students to consider questions related to their lives and careers, adding a personal dimension to the material.

Student-focused features

  • Don't Let This Happen to You boxes alert students to common pitfalls seen throughout the chapters.

Engaging practice

  • Real-Time Data exercises help students build familiarity with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' FRED™ site, while building skills in data interpretation.
  • Concept Check questions encourage students to stop and check their understanding of fundamental concepts before moving on to the next section.

New and updated features of this title

Pedagogy that emphasizes real-world examples, applications, and practice

  • UPDATED: Examples and policy discussions detail recent developments in US and world economies. This includes the COVID-19 pandemic and related decline in the supply of goods and services, decline in total spending, and soar in unemployment.
  • NEW and UPDATED: Chapter-Opening Cases illustrate how the economic concepts presented in the text impact real-life businesses, such as Nike, Apple and Lyft.

Student-focused features enhance understanding of key economic topics

  • UPDATED: An Inside Look boxes use news articles to teach students how to apply economic thinking to current events and policy debates.
  • 6 NEW: Apply the Concepts features reinforce key concepts and help students interpret the news. Several discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, health care, and trade, which have been at the forefront of recent policy discussions.

Opportunities for practice

  • UPDATED: End-of-Chapter Questions, Problems and Critical-Thinking Exercises help students build skills in analyzing information and applying reasoning and logic to new or unfamiliar ideas and situations.
  • UPDATED and 3 NEW: Solved Problems show students how to solve an economic problem by breaking it down step by step.

Digital features

Features of Pearson eText for the 8th Edition

  • Real-Time Data Graphs are updated automatically using data from FRED™ to ensure students always see the most up-to-date information.
  • Trending... boxes offer coverage of current events and trending topics in the summary section of each chapter. Updated as frequently as every 6 months by the author, these provide the latest, relevant content so students can see economic concepts in the world around them. Older stories are retained and can be accessed under the menu button.

Features of MyLab Economics for the 8th Edition

  • NEW: In the new Hubbard and O'Brien Economics Podcast, the authors share hyper-current updates on the economy. They also offer analysis, discussion points, and make connections to the textbook and the classroom.
  • NEW: With assignable and auto-graded Podcast Exercises, students listen to the Hubbard/O'Brien podcast and then answer questions about the economic principles covered within. The content is hyper-current and based on updates in the economy.
  • NEW: Learning Catalytics poses questions to help students recall ideas and apply concepts. They respond on their own devices. New questions address elements of the economy affected by COVID-19 and offer Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics to spark discussion.
  • NEW: Pearson eText with dynamic features include real-time data graph figures updated automatically using FRED data. This ensures students always see the most up-to-date graphs. Trending... boxes feature regularly updated real-world applications.
  • UPDATED: Animated Graphs help students grasp concepts such as shifts in curves, movements along curves and changes in equilibrium values.
  • UPDATED: Solved Problem Videos are whiteboard-style videos that walk students step-by-step through problems and their solutions.

Table of contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

  1. Economics: Foundations and Models
    • Appendix: Using Graphs and Formulas
  1. Trade-offs, Comparative Advantage, and the Market System
  2. Where Prices Come From: The Interaction of Demand and Supply
  3. Economic Efficiency, Government Price Setting, and Taxes
    • Appendix: Quantitative Demand and Supply Analysis

PART 2: MARKETS IN ACTION: POLICY AND APPLICATIONS

  1. Externalities, Environmental Policy, and Public Goods
  2. Elasticity: The Responsiveness of Demand and Supply
  3. The Economics of Health Care

PART 3: FIRMS IN THE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIES

  1. Firms, the Stock Market, and Corporate Governance
    • Appendix: Present Value
    • Online Appendix: Tools to Analyze Firms' Financial Information
  1. Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade

PART 4: MICROECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS: CONSUMERS AND FIRMS

  1. Consumer Choice and Behavioral Economics
    • Appendix: Using Indifference Curves and Budget Lines to Understand Consumer Behavior
  1. Technology, Production, and Costs
    • Online Appendix: Using Isoquants and Isocost Lines to Understand Production and Cost

PART 5: MARKET STRUCTURE AND FIRM STRATEGY

  1. Firms in Perfectly Competitive Markets
  2. Monopolistic Competition: The Competitive Model in a More Realistic Setting
  3. Oligopoly: Firms in Less Competitive Markets
  4. Monopoly and Antitrust Policy

PART 6: LABOR MARKETS, PUBLIC CHOICE, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME

  1. The Markets for Labor and Other Factors of Production
  2. Public Choice, Taxes, and the Distribution of Income

PART 7: MACROECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS AND LONG-RUN GROWTH

  1. GDP: Measuring Total Production and Income
  2. Unemployment and Inflation
  3. Economic Growth, the Financial System, and Business Cycles
  4. Long-Run Economic Growth: Sources and Policies

PART 8: SHORT-RUN FLUCTUATIONS

  1. Aggregate Expenditure and Output in the Short Run
    • Appendix: The Algebra of Macroeconomic Equilibrium
  1. Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Analysis
    • Appendix: Macroeconomic Schools of Thought

PART 9: MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY

  1. Money, Banks, and the Federal Reserve System
  2. Monetary Policy
  3. Fiscal Policy
    • Appendix: A Closer Look at the Multiplier
  1. Inflation, Unemployment, and Federal Reserve Policy

PART 10: THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

  1. Macroeconomics in an Open Economy
    • Online Appendix: The Gold Standard and the Bretton Woods System

Author bios

About our authors

Glenn Hubbard, policymaker, professor, and researcher. Hubbard is Dean emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics in the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and professor of economics in Columbia's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a director of Automatic Data Processing, Black Rock Fixed-Income Funds, and MetLife. He received a PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1983. From 2001 to 2003, he served as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and chair of the OECD Economic Policy Committee, and from 1991 to 1993, he was deputy assistant secretary of the US Treasury Department. He currently serves as co-chair of the nonpartisan Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. Hubbard's fields of specialization are public economics, financial markets and institutions, corporate finance, macroeconomics, industrial organization, and public policy. He is the author of more than 100 articles in leading journals, including American Economic Review; Brookings Papers on Economic Activity; Journal of Finance; Journal of Financial Economics; Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; Journal of Political Economy; Journal of Public Economics; Quarterly Journal of Economics; RAND Journal of Economics; and Review of Economics and Statistics. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and numerous private foundations.

Tony O'Brien, award-winning professor and researcher. O'Brien is a professor of economics at Lehigh University. He received a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1987. He has taught principles of economics for more than 20 years, in both large sections and small honors classes. He received the Lehigh University Award for Distinguished Teaching. He was formerly the director of the Diamond Center for Economic Education and was named a Dana Foundation Faculty Fellow and Lehigh Class of 1961 Professor of Economics. He has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. O'Brien's research has dealt with issues such as the evolution of the US automobile industry, the sources of US economic competitiveness, the development of US trade policy, the causes of the Great Depression, and the causes of black-white income differences. His research has been published in leading journals, including American Economic Review; Quarterly Journal of Economics; Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; Industrial Relations; Journal of Economic History; and Explorations in Economic History. His research has been supported by grants from government agencies and private foundations.

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