Table of Contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. What is Economics?
2. The Economic Problem

PART 2: HOW MARKETS WORK

1. Demand and Supply
2. Elasticity
3. Efficiency And Equity
4. Government Actions in Markets
5. Global Markets in Action

PART 3: HOUSEHOLDS' CHOICES

1. Utility and Demand
2. Possibilities, Preferences, and Choices

PART 4: FIRMS AND MARKETS

1. Organizing Production
2. Output and Costs
3. Perfect Competition
4. Monopoly
5. Monopolistic Competition
6. Oligopoly

PART 5: MARKET FAILURE AND GOVERNMENT

1. Public Choices, Public Goods, and Healthcare
2. Externalities

PART 6: FACTOR MARKETS, INEQUALITY, AND UNCERTAINTY

1. Markets for Factors of Production
2. Economic Inequality
3. Uncertainty and Information

PART 7: MONITORING MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

1. Monitoring the Value of Production: GDP
2. Monitoring Jobs and Inflation

PART 8: MACROECONOMIC TRENDS

1. Economic Growth
2. Finance, Saving, and Investment
3. Money, the Price Level, and Inflation
4. The Exchange Rate and the Balance of Payments

PART 9: MACROECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS

1. Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand
2. Expenditure Multipliers
3. The Business Cycle, Inflation, and Deflation

PART 10: MACROECONOMIC POLICY

1. Fiscal Policy
2. Monetary Policy

About the Author

Michael Parkin is Professor Emeritus in theDepartment of Economics at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. ProfessorParkin has held faculty appointments at Brown University, the University ofManchester, the University of Essex, and Bond University. He is a pastpresident of the Canadian Economics Association and has served on the editorialboards of the and the and as managing editor of the

Professor Parkin's research on macroeconomics, monetary economics,and international economics has resulted in over 160 publications in journalsand edited volumes, including the , , , , and . He became most visible to the public with his work oninflation that discredited the use of wage and price controls. Professor Parkinalso spearheaded the movement toward European monetary union. Professor Parkinis an experienced and dedicated teacher of introductory economics.