Book Features

Student Center | Instructor Center | Information Center | Home

Economics, 15/e

Campbell R. McConnell, University of Nebraska, Emeritus
Stanley L. Brue, Pacific Lutheran University

Information Center

Book Features

Comprehensive Explanations at an Appropriate Level. Economics is comprehensive, analytical, and challenging yet fully accessible to a wide range of students. Its thoroughness and accessibility enable instructors to select topics for special classroom emphasis with confidence that students can read and comprehend independently other assigned material in the book.

Fundamentals of the Market System. Many economies throughout the world are making the difficult transition from planning to markets. Our detailed description of the institutions and operation of the market system in Chapter 4 is even more relevant than before. We pay particular attention to property rights, entrepreneurship, freedom of enterprise and choice, competition, and the role of profits because these concepts are poorly understood by beginning students.

Early Integration of International Economics. We give the principles and institutions of the global economy early treatment. Chapter 6 examines the growth of world trade, the major participants in world trade, specialization and comparative advantage, the foreign exchange market, tariffs and subsidies, and various trade agreements. This strong introduction to international economics permits "globalization" of later macroeconomics and microeconomics discussions.

Early and Extensive Treatment of Government. Government is an integral component of modern capitalism. This book introduces the economic functions of government early and accords them systematic treatment in Chapter 5. Chapter 30 examines government and market failure in further detail and Chapter 31 looks at salient facets of public choice theory and taxation. Both the macroeconomics and the microeconomics sections of the text include issues- and policy-oriented chapters.
Building-block Approach to Macro

We systematically present the macroeconomics by:
- Establishing the real GDP concept and previewing economic growth, unemployment, and inflation.
- Building the aggregate expenditures model (AE model).
- Deriving aggregate demand from the AE model and developing the aggregate-demand-aggregate supply model (AD-AS model).
- Using the AD-AS model to discuss fiscal policy.
- Introducing monetary considerations into the AD-AS model.
- Using the AD-AS model to discuss monetary policy.
- Extending the AD-AS model by distinguishing between short-run and long-run aggregate supply.
- Applying the "extended AD-AS model" to macroeconomic instability, economic growth, and disagreements on macroeconomic theory and policy.

Emphasis on Technological Change and Economic Growth. This edition continues to emphasize economic growth. Chapter 2 uses the production possibilities curve to show the basic ingredients of growth. Chapter 8 explains how growth is measured and presents the facts of growth. Chapter 17 discusses the causes of growth, looks at productivity growth and the New Economy, and addresses some of the controversies surrounding economic growth. Chapter 26 provides an explicit and cohesive discussion of the microeconomics of technological advance, including topics such as invention, innovation, and diffusion; startup firms, R&D decision making; market structure and R&D effort; and creative destruction. Chapter 39 focuses on the less developed countries and the growth obstacles they confront.

Stress on the Theory of the Firm. We have given much attention to microeconomics in general and to the theory of the firm in particular. The concepts of microeconomics are difficult for most beginning students and too-brief expositions usually compound these difficulties by raising more questions than they answer. To cement understanding we couple analysis of the various market structures with a discussion of the impact of each market arrangement on price, output levels, resource allocation, and the rate of technological advance.

Focus on Economic Issues. For many students, Part 4 (macroeconomic issues) and Part 8 (microeconomic issues) are where the action is. We sought to guide that action along logical lines through the application of appropriate analytical tools. In these parts we favor inclusiveness; instructors can effectively choose two or three chapters from this group.