Principles of Economics

This Global Edition has been edited to include enhancements making it more relevant to students outside the United States Reviewers tell us that Case/Fair/Oster is one of the all-time bestselling POE texts because they trust it to be clear, thorough and complete. Case/Fair/Oster readers also 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. Readers begin to learn the art and science of economic thinking and begin to look at some policy and even personal decisions in a different way.PART I Introduction to Economics 1 1 The Scope and Method of Economics 1 2 The Economic Problem: Scarcity and Choice 25 3 Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium 47 4 Demand and Supply Applications 79 5 Elasticity 97 PART II The Market System: Choices Made by Households and Firms 100 6 Household Behavior and Consumer Choice 121 7 The Production Process: The Behavior of Profit-Maximizing Firms 147 8 Short-Run Costs and Output Decisions 167 9 Long-Run Costs and Output Decisions 189 10 Input Demand: The Labor and Land Markets 215 11 Input Demand: The Capital Market and the Investment Decision 233 12 General Equilibrium and the Efficiency of Perfect Competition 253 PART III Market Imperfections and the Role of Government 269 13 Monopoly and Antitrust Policy 269 14 Oligopoly 293 15 Monopolistic Competition 313 16 Externalities, Public Goods, and Social Choice 329 17 Uncertainty and Asymmetric Information 353 18 Income Distribution and Poverty 367 19 Public Finance: The Economics of Taxation 389 PART IV Concepts and Problems in Macroeconomics 409 20 Introduction to Macroeconomics 409 21 Measuring National Output and National Income 420 22 Unemployment, Inflation, and Long-Run Growth 441 PART V The Core of Macroeconomic Theory 457 23 Aggregate Expenditure and Equilibrium Output 459 24 The Government and Fiscal Policy 477 25 The Money Supply and the Federal Reserve System 501 26 Money Demand and the Equilibrium Interest Rate 525 27 The Determination of Aggregate Output, the Price Level, and the Interest Rate 541 28 Policy Effects and Costs Shocks in the AS/AD Model 559 29 The Labor Market In the Macroeconomy 571 PART VI Further Macroeconomics Issues 593 30 Financial Crises, Stabilization, and Deficits 593 31 Household and Firm Behavior in the Macroeconomy: A Further Look 611 32 Long-Run Growth 635 33 Alternative Views in Macroeconomics 649 PART VII The World Economy 663 34 International Trade, Comparative Advantage, and Protectionism 663 35 Open-Economy Macroeconomics: The Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates 685 36 Economic Growth in Developing and Transitional Economies 713 Glossary Index Photo Credits