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Essentials of Economics, 6th edition

Published by Pearson (February 14, 2018) © 2019

  • Glenn Hubbard Columbia University
  • Anthony Patrick O'Brien Lehigh University

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For 1-semester principles of economics courses.

The relevance of economics, shown through real-world business examples

Essentials of Economics makes economic principles relevant by demonstrating how real businesses use them to make decisions every day. For instructors, it eases the challenge of conveying how these principles directly impact students' lives.

The 6th Edition exemplifies recent developments in US and world economies through new real-world business and policy examples. No matter their career path, whether it's opening an art studio, trading on Wall Street or bartending at the local pub, students will benefit from grasping the economic forces behind their work.

Hallmark features of this title

Complete economics coverage

  • Real-world business examples and applications help students become educated consumers, voters, and citizens.
  • Introductory chapters 1 to 4 give students a solid foundation in the basics, including marginal analysis and economic efficiency.
  • A full chapter is devoted to international trade and the debate over trade policy (Ch. 19).

Engaging practice

  • Economics in Your Life & Career boxes ask students to consider questions related to their lives and careers, adding a personal dimension to the material.

Learner and instructor resources

  • An accessible writing style brings the concepts to life.

New and updated features of this title

Real-world coverage

  • NEW: Section describes economics as a career and highlights the key skills students of any major can gain from studying economics.
  • NEW and UPDATED: Chapter-Opening Cases illustrate how the economic concepts presented in the text impact real-life businesses, such as Tesla, KB Home and Paytm.

Student-focused features

  • NEW: An Inside Look boxes use news articles to teach students how to apply economic thinking to current events and policy debates.
  • 15 NEW: Apply the Concepts features reinforce key concepts and help students interpret the news.

Engaging practice

  • NEW: Critical-Thinking Sections include end-of-chapter exercise sets, consisting of 2 to 4 real-world problems, which explain key concepts and encourage students to do their own research.
  • 16 NEW or UPDATED: Solved Problems show students how to solve an economic problem by breaking it down step by step.

Features of MyLab Economics for the 6th Edition; published 2018

  • Digital Interactives are dynamic and engaging activities that use real-time data from FREDâ„¢ to promote critical thinking and the application of key economic principles.
  • Macroeconomic graphs powered by real-time data are available in the eText and let instructors show and discuss what's really happening in the world from an economics point of view.
  • The latest news stories and accompanying exercises ask students to recognize and apply economic concepts to current events.
  • Worksheets give students pencil to paper practice with graphing and other key topics in economics. They also help to develop critical-thinking skills via short-answer student responses.
  • Question Help consists of homework and practice questions to help students master the concepts. Learning aids walk them through the problem, giving them assistance when they need it most.
  • Short answer questions encourage critical thinking. For example, students may be asked to explain why they shifted a graph in a particular way or why data might have changed over time.

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Economics: Foundations and Models

Appendix: Using Graphs and Formulas  

2. Trade-offs, Comparative Advantage, and the Market System

3. Where Prices Come From: The Interaction of Demand and Supply    

           

PART II: MARKETS IN ACTION: POLICY AND APPLICATIONS

4. Market Efficiency and Market Failure

5. The Economics of Health Care

           

PART III: MICROECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS: CONSUMERS AND FIRMS

6. Firms, the Stock Market, and Corporate Governance

7. Consumer Choice and Elasticity                    

8. Technology, Production, and Costs   

           

PART V: MARKET STRUCTURE AND FIRM STRATEGY

9. Firms in Perfectly Competitive Markets         

10. Monopoly and Antitrust Policy

11. Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly    

 

PART VI: MACROECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS

12. GDP: Measuring Total Production and Income        

13. Unemployment and Inflation         

           

PART VIII: LONG-RUN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SHORT-RUN ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS

14. Economic Growth, the Financial System, and Business Cycles

15. Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Analysis   

Appendix: Macroeconomic Schools of Thought

           

PART VIIII: MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY

16. Money, Banks, and the Federal Reserve System     

17. Monetary Policy    

18. Fiscal Policy

19. Comparative Advantage, International Trade, and Exchange Rates   

 

 

About our authors

Glenn Hubbard, policymaker, professor, and researcher. Hubbard is Dean emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics in the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and professor of economics in Columbia's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a director of Automatic Data Processing, Black Rock Fixed-Income Funds, and MetLife. He received a PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1983. From 2001 to 2003, he served as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and chair of the OECD Economic Policy Committee, and from 1991 to 1993, he was deputy assistant secretary of the US Treasury Department. He currently serves as co-chair of the nonpartisan Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. Hubbard's fields of specialization are public economics, financial markets and institutions, corporate finance, macroeconomics, industrial organization, and public policy. He is the author of more than 100 articles in leading journals, including American Economic Review; Brookings Papers on Economic Activity; Journal of Finance; Journal of Financial Economics; Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; Journal of Political Economy; Journal of Public Economics; Quarterly Journal of Economics; RAND Journal of Economics; and Review of Economics and Statistics. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and numerous private foundations.

Tony O'Brien, award-winning professor and researcher. O'Brien is a professor of economics at Lehigh University. He received a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1987. He has taught principles of economics for more than 20 years, in both large sections and small honors classes. He received the Lehigh University Award for Distinguished Teaching. He was formerly the director of the Diamond Center for Economic Education and was named a Dana Foundation Faculty Fellow and Lehigh Class of 1961 Professor of Economics. He has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. O'Brien's research has dealt with issues such as the evolution of the US automobile industry, the sources of US economic competitiveness, the development of US trade policy, the causes of the Great Depression, and the causes of black-white income differences. His research has been published in leading journals, including American Economic Review; Quarterly Journal of Economics; Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; Industrial Relations; Journal of Economic History; and Explorations in Economic History. His research has been supported by grants from government agencies and private foundations.

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