Foundations of Economics, 7th Edition

Personalize learning with MyEconLab

Bade and Parkin are the only economics authors who write their own content in an online assessment platform. Here are a few examples of what the authors created for MyEconLab:

• The text’s Checkpoints are also available in MyEconLab, allowing students to practice online. Checkpoint problems appear in study mode where students can work them using tutorial learning aids as needed. Checkpoint exercises are available in self-test mode so students are encouraged to work them independently before getting feedback.
• End-of-chapter News Analysis Questions are also found online in MyEconLab. These questions ask students to interpret a news story and answer related questions that require them to apply economic concepts.
• End-of-chapter problems and exercises are also developed as auto-graded questions in MyEconLab. Instructors can assign end-of-chapter problems online–even problems with graphing, fill-in-the-blank, and numerical entries.
• Economics in the News is updated every day during the school year by the authors themselves. Each entry provides a summary of the news, a link to the complete story, and discussion questions.
• Additional learning tools, such as audio-narrated animations, interactive graphs, customized feedback, and guided solutions, help students understand course material and stay on track.

NEW! The new enhanced Pearson eText extends the functionality of the current eText to integrate it with MyEconLab’s Study Plan, now powered by Knewton Adaptive Learning, and with MyEconLab’s Gradebook. The new eText also offers students an enriched set of tools that aid comprehension and foster those moments of discovery that stick in the memory. New tools include:

• A “Big Picture” video that summarizes each chapter and provides an outline answer to the chapter’s motivating question.
• A series of “Snapshot” videos that illustrate and explain the key ideas in each section of a chapter. These also contain animations and explanations of each figure, which can be played separately.
• A series of “Solutions” videos that walk the student through the solutions to the Practice Problems and In the News exercises in each Checkpoint.
• “Study Plan” links that provide opportunities for more practice with problems that give targeted feedback to guide students.
• “Key Terms Quiz” links that enable students to check their knowledge of the definitions and uses of the key terms.
• Automatic real-time updating from the St. Louis Federal Reserve database (FRED) of all time-series figures.

MyEconLab grants students many opportunities to practice what they’re learning in the course, while obviating the need for extra grading by the instructor. Here are some of the ways MyEconLab facilitates easy self-study:

• Computer-graded graphing exercises help students become more comfortable and proficient working with economic graphs and models.
• Online homework, quizzes, and tests are easy to assign, allowing instructors to build assessments using a mix of MyEconLab-specific problems, Test Bank questions, and questions written by the instructor using the Econ Exercise Builder.
• A robust gradebook tracks students’ performance on online homework, quizzes, tests, and problems worked in the Study Plan.

Encourage students to learn by doing

Foundations of Economics is structured to encourage learning by doing. Its Checklist/Checkpoint system provides a practice-oriented framework, consisting of the following elements:

• Checklists at the beginning of each chapter preview the 3—5 key ideas students need to know. Each chapter is broken into discrete sections devoted to one of these ideas.
• Checkpoints at the end of each section present a practice problem with a guided solution and a parallel exercise for the student to try.
• Chapter Checkpoints at the conclusion of each chapter include a summary of key points and key terms, and additional practice opportunities such as problems, news analysis questions, critical thinking questions, and online exercises.

End-of-chapter features prompt students to apply what they’re learning.

• News-based end-of-chapter questions provide news summaries and prompt students to apply economics to issues in the news.
• Web exercises prompt students to seek out real data on the web and use it to answer questions.

The program’s supplements are reliable and easy to use because they align with the same Checklist/Checkpoint structure found in the text. A complete suite of instructor supplements is available, including an Instructor’s Manual, a Solutions Manual, three Test Banks, PowerPoint® lecture slides, and an Instructor’s Resource CD-ROM.

• Test Bank questions include graphing questions and integrative questions in each chapter. The Test Bank authors also wrote questions for the Study Guide to ensure consistency.
• All components of the supplements are organized by Checkpoint topic so students can move easily through the textbook, MyEconLab, and the Study Guide, and instructors can navigate among the textbook, MyEconLab, the PowerPoint lecture slides, the Instructor’s Manual, and the Test Banks.
• Three separate Test Banks are available, with more than 12,000 multiple-choice, numerical, fill-in-the-blank, short-answer, and essay questions, plus integrative questions that build on material from more than one Checkpoint and more than one chapter.

Command student attention and foster interest in the course

Modern micro and macro topics are presented accessibly, with contemporary examples that help students tie theory to real-world situations.

Simplified chapter openers grab student attention and provide instant focus for the chapter. Each chapter opens with a question about a central issue that the chapter addresses which is illustrated with an engaging photograph.

Eye On boxes address and discuss the chapter-opener and an end-of-chapter problem, enabling students to grasp the point of the chapter quickly and helping instructors to focus on a core issue both in class and in practice exercises. This feature is also available in the MyEconLab Homework and Test Manager, making it available for assignment with automatic grading


Provide engaging, fully updated content

NEW! The content of the revised Seventh Edition has been driven by the drama of the extraordinary period of economic history in which we are living. New and updated material on the following contemporary topics better motivates students to discover the economic way of thinking:

• Persistent unemployment and slow growth
• Headwinds from Europe’s unresolved debt crisis
• Ongoing tensions arising from offshore outsourcing
• A slowing pace of China’s expansion
• Enhanced concern about climate change
• Falling U.S. energy imports as fracking boosts domestic production
• Relentless pressure on the federal budget from the demands of an aging population and a sometimes dysfunctional Congress
• The dilemma posed by slow recovery and rising government debt
• The question of when and how fast to exit an era of extreme monetary stimulus
• A fluctuating dollar

NEW! The section in Chapter 1, Getting Started , on “The Economic Way of Thinking” has been reorganized to provide a clearer sequencing of the key ideas.

NEW! In Chapter 2, The U.S. and Global Economies , the new example of the complex production of the Dreamliner is used to motivate and illustrate what, how, and for whom in the U.S. and global economies. A new Eye on the Pas t looks at the dramatic changes in manufacturing in the U.S. economy through the example of the domestic production of shoes. A new photo essay highlights global differences in how goods and services are produced. And, the section on government has been compressed and simplified.

NEW! Chapter 3, The Economic Problem, illustrates economic growth and the expansion of production possibilities with the dramatic example of hydraulic fracturing—fracking—in the United States and its effects on the production and opportunity cost of energy.

NEW! Chapter 4, Demand and Supply , includes a new motivating issue: “Why does tuition keep rising?” Not only is the question a deeply personal one for students but it is also a good example of how the demand-supply model enables us to isolate increasing demand as the source of a rising price. Events in the increasingly important market for solar panels provide a contrasting example of the effects of an increase in supply. The section on changes in both demand and supply has been revised to better explain the unambiguous and ambiguous cases and leave the student to pull all possible cases together.

NEW! Chapter 10, Externalities , features a reorganized discussion of ideas for achieving efficiency in the face of external costs. These ideas are explained by way of four categories: establish property rights, mandate clean technology, tax pollution, and cap-and-trade pollution permits. The discussion of mandates is new.

NEW! Chapter 11, Public Goods and Common Resources , includes a sharpened explanation of the concept of sustainability and distinguishes between unsustainability and inefficiency. The working of competitive markets is illustrated through the example of vanishing record stores.

NEW! Chapter 18, Oligopoly , offers an updated description of how the HHI is used to evaluate the effects of proposed mergers.

NEW! Chapter 25, Economic Growth, includes a simplified explanation of the contributions to productivity growth of capital accumulation and the impact of technological change on the fluctuating pace of productivity growth.

NEW! Topical policy issues pervade the macro chapters, offering students an engaging and relatable entry into their study of economics.

• Chapter 22 covers the persistence of high unemployment in the United States, Eurozone’s extreme unemployment problem, and the falling U.S. labor force participation rate.
• Chapter 24 explains the ever-widening Lucas wedge, now greater than $400,000 per person, and the persistence of U.S./E.U. productivity differences
• Chapter 27 covers QE3 and the explosion of monetary base, the rise in bank reserves, and the collapse of the money multiplier.
• Chapter 28 includes discussion of the decrease in the demand for M1.
• Chapter 29 covers the persistent recessionary gap.
• Chapter 32 discusses the persistent federal budget deficit and rising debt to GDP ratio, and the ongoing structural deficit.
• Chapter 33 offers coverage of the ongoing near-zero federal funds rate, an update of the contrast between monetary policy today and during the Great Depression, and nominal GDP targeting.