Exploring Economics - International Student Edition

Robert L. Sexton is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University. Professor Sexton has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles in the Anderson Graduate School of Management and the Department of Economics. Professor Sexton's research ranges across many fields of economics: economics education, labor economics, environmental economics, law and economics, and economic history. He has written over twenty textbooks and has published numerous scholarly articles, many in top economic journals such as The American Economic Review, Southern Economic Journal, Economics Letters, Journal of Urban Economics, and The Journal of Economic Education. He has also written more than 100 other articles that have appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers. Professor Sexton received the Pepperdine Professor of the Year Award in 1991, a Harriet and Charles Luckman Teaching Fellow in 1994, Tyler Professor of the Year in 1997, the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence in 2011, and a Career Achievement Award from California Lutheran University in 1994.

Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: The Role and Method of Economics 1.1 Economics: A Brief Introduction 1.2 Economic Behavior 1.3 Economic Theories and Models 1.4 Pitfalls to Avoid in Scientific Thinking 1.5 Positive Statements and Normative Statements Chapter 2: Economics: Eight Powerful Ideas 2.1 Idea 1: People Face Scarcity and Costly Trade-Offs 2.2 Idea 2: People Engage in Rational Decision Making and Marginal Thinking 2.3 Idea 3: People Respond Predictably to Changes in Incentives 2.4 Idea 4: Specialization and Trade Can Make People Better Off 2.5 Idea 5: Markets Can Improve Economic Efficiency 2.6 Idea 6: Appropriate Government Policies Can Improve Market Outcomes 2.7 Idea 7: Government Policies May Help Stabilize the Economy 2.8 Idea 8: Increasing Productivity Leads to Economic Growth Chapter 3: Scarcity, Trade-Offs, and Production Possibilities 3.1 The Three Economic Questions Every Society Faces 3.2 The Circular Flow Model 3.3 The Production Possibilities Curve 3.4 Economic Growth and the Production Possibilities Curve Part II: Supply and Demand Chapter 4: Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium 4.1 Markets 4.2 Demand 4.3 Shifts in the Demand Curve 4.4 Supply 4.5 Shifts in the Supply Curve 4.6 Market Equilibrium Price and Quantity Chapter 5: Markets in Motion and Price Controls 5.1 Changes in Market Equilibrium 5.2 Price Controls Chapter 6: Elasticities 6.1 Price Elasticity of Demand 6.2 Total Revenue and the Price Elasticity of Demand 6.3 Other Types of Demand Elasticities 6.4 Price Elasticity of Supply Part III: Market Efficiency, Market Failure, and the Public System Chapter 7: Market Efficiency and Welfare 7.1 Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus 7.2 The Welfare Effects of Taxes, Subsidies, and Price Controls Chapter 8: Market Failure 8.1 Externalities 8.2 Public Policy and the Environment 8.3 Property Rights and the Environment 8.4 Public Goods 8.5 Asymmetric Information Chapter 9: Public Finance and Public Choice 9.1 Public Finance: Government Spending and Taxation 9.2 Public Choice Part IV: Households and Market Structure Chapter 10: Consumer Choice Theory 10.1 Consumer Behavior 10.2 The Consumer's Choice 10.3 Behavioral Economics Chapter 11: The Firm: Production and Costs 11.1 Firms and Profits: Total Revenues Minus Total Costs 11.2 Production in the Short Run 11.3 Costs in the Short Run 11.4 The Shape of the Short-Run Cost Curves 11.5 Cost Curves: Short Run versus Long Run Chapter 12: Firms in Perfectly Competitive Markets 12.1 A Perfectly Competitive Market 12.2 An Individual Price Taker's Demand Curve 12.3 Profit Maximization 12.4 Short-Run Profits and Losses 12.5 Long-Run Equilibrium 12.6 Long-Run Supply Chapter 13: Monopoly and Antitrust 13.1 Monopoly: The Price Maker 13.2 Demand and Marginal Revenue in Monopoly 13.3 The Monopolist's Equilibrium 13.4 Monopoly and Welfare Loss 13.5 Monopoly Policy 13.6 Price Discrimination and Peak Load Pricing Chapter 14: Monopolistic Competition and Product Differentiation 14.1 Monopolistic Competition 14.2 Price and Output Determination in Monopolistic Competition 14.3 Monopolistic Competition versus Perfect Competition 14.4 Advertising Chapter 15: Oligopoly and Strategic Behavior 15.1 Oligopoly 15.2 Collusion and Cartels 15.3 Other Oligopoly Models 15.4 Game Theory and Strategic Behavior Part V: Input Markets and Microeconomic Policy Issues Chapter 16: The Markets for Labor, Capital, and Land 16.1 Input Markets 16.2 Supply and Demand in the Labor Market 16.3 Labor Market Equilibrium 16.4 Labor Unions 16.5 The Markets for Land and Capital Chapter 17: Income, Poverty, and Health Care 17.1 Income Distribution 17.2 Income Redistribution 17.3 The Economics of Discrimination 17.4 Poverty 17.5 Health Care Part VI: Macroeconomic Foundations Chapter 18: Introduction to Macroeconomics: Unemployment, Inflation, and Economic Fluctuations 18.1 Macroeconomic Goals 18.2 Employment and Unemployment 18.3 Types of Unemployment 18.4 Reasons for Unemployment 18.5 Inflation 18.6 Economic Fluctuations Chapter 19: Measuring Economic Performance 19.1 National Income Accounting: A Standardized Way to Measure Economic Performance 19.2 Measuring Total Production 19.3 Other Measure of Total Production and Total Income 19.4 Problems in Calculating an Accurate GDP 19.5 Problems with GDP as a Measure of Economic Welfare Chapter 20: Economic Growth in the Global Economy 20.1 Economic Growth 20.2 Determinants of Economic Growth 20.3 Public Policy and Economic Growth 20.4 Population and Economic Growth Chapter 21: Financial Markets, Saving, and Investment 21.1 Financial Institutions and Intermediaries 21.2 Saving, Investment, and the Financial System 21.3 The Financial Crisis of 2008 Part VII: The Macroeconomic Models Chapter 22: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply 22.1 The Determinants of Aggregate Demand 22.2 The Aggregate Demand Curve 22.3 Shifts in the Aggregate Demand Curve 22.4 The Aggregate Supply Curve 22.5 Shifts in the Aggregate Supply Curve 22.6 Macroeconomic Equilibrium: The Short Run and the Long Run Chapter 23: The Aggregate Expenditure Model 23.1 The Simple Aggregate Expenditure Model 23.2 Finding Equilibrium in the Aggregate Expenditure Model 23.3 Adding Investment, Government Purchases, and Net Exports 23.4 Shifts in Aggregate Expenditure and the Multiplier 23.5 From Aggregate Expenditures to Aggregate Demand Part VIII: Macroeconomic Policy Chapter 24: Fiscal Policy 24.1 Fiscal Policy 24.2 Fiscal Policy and the AD/AS Model 24.3 The Multiplier Effect 24.4 Supply-Side Effects of Tax Cuts 24.5 Possible Obstacles to Effective Fiscal Policy 24.6 Automatic Stabilizers 24.7 The National Debt Chapter 25: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve System 25.1 What is Money? 25.2 Measuring Money 25.3 How Banks Create Money 25.4 The Money Multiplier 25.5 The Federal Reserve System 25.6 How Does the Federal Reserve Change the Money Supply? 25.7 Bank Failures Chapter 26: Monetary Policy 26.1 Money, Interest Rates, and Aggregate Demand 26.2 Expansionary and Contractionary Monetary Policy 26.3 Money and Inflation--The Long Run 26.4 Problems in Implementing Monetary and Fiscal Policy Chapter 27: Issues in Macroeconomic Theory and Policy 27.1 The Phillips Curve 27.2 The Phillips Curve over Time 27.3 Rational Expectations 27.4 Controversies in Macroeconomic Policy Part IX: The Global Economy Chapter 28: International Trade 28.1 The Growth in World Trade 28.2 Comparative Advantage and Gains from Trade 28.3 Supply and Demand in International Trade 28.4 Tariffs, Import Quotas, and Subsidies Chapter 29: International Finance 29.1 The Balance of Payments 29.2 Exchange Rates 29.3 Equilibrium Changes in the Foreign Exchange Market 29.4 Flexible Exchange Rates