Principles of Microeconomics, 13th edition
Published by Pearson (February 1, 2019) © 2020
  • Karl E. Case
  • Ray C. Fair
  • Sharon E. Oster

Title overview

For principles of microeconomics courses.

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

Reviewers tell us that Case, Fair, and Oster's Principles of Microeconomics is one of the all-time bestselling principles of economics texts because they trust it to be clear, thorough and complete. Readers 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.

The 13th Edition features the latest research and new 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.

Hallmark features of this title

A history of excellence in economic content and application

  • A 3-tiered explanation of key concepts uses intuitive stories, tables, graphs and equations to present concepts with a mathematical formula. This lets instructors effectively cover large amounts of material and helps students 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.

Comprehensive micro models

  • Competitive market models are introduced first, followed by noncompetitive market structures. This gives students a clear understanding of basic economic theory and how market opportunities operate.

New and updated features of this title

A history of excellence in economic content and application

  • NEW and REVISED: More thorough discussion of important topics and issues has been added to the 13th Edition.
  • UPDATED: Different research methodologies of economics are further examined, giving students a sense of what these methodologies are and how to apply them.
  • UPDATED: End-of-Chapter Critical-Thinking Questions and Problems reinforce principles and give students the opportunity to practice what they've just learned.

Learner-focused resources

  • UPDATED: Real-world examples and applications illustrate and reinforce key economic concepts.
  • UPDATED: Economics in Practice boxes focus on recent research and events that support key chapter concepts. This helps students make connections between what they learn in class and how it can apply to their jobs in the real world.

Key features

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for MyLab Economics (available for Fall 2022 classes)

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 1: INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS

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

PART 2: THE MARKET SYSTEM

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

PART 3: MARKET IMPERFECTIONS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

  1. Monopoly and Antitrust Policy
  2. Oligopoly
  3. Monopolistic Competition
  4. Externalities, Public Goods, and Common Resources
  5. Uncertainty and Asymmetric Information
  6. Income Distribution and Poverty
  7. Public Finance: The Economics of Taxation

PART 4: THE WORLD ECONOMY

  1. International Trade, Comparative Advantage, and Protectionism
  2. Economic Growth in Developing Economies

PART 5: METHODOLOGY

  1. Critical Thinking about Research

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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