Author: Brian Kench, PhD
Abstract: The purpose of this course is to provide students with fundamental economic principles which they may use to think critically about microeconomic events.
Audience: College students and high school students
Chapter 1 introduces the concept of opportunity cost and comparative advantage. These concepts are discussed and used to prove the mutual advantages of individuals and businesses specializing in things with which they have a comparative advantage.
Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the model of demand and supply. This chapter shows how buyers and sellers interact in the marketplace and demonstrates how market prices are determined for goods and services.
Chapter 3 introduces short run and long-run economic costs of production concepts. The profit maximizing rule is applied to both the perfectly competitive business environment and the monopolistic business environment.
Chapter 4 offers a set of tools and concepts that both economists and policymakers use to try to figure out the overall pulse of the economy. Items such as the gross domestic product, the national income identity and the consumer price index are discussed.
Chapter 5 discusses market failure, positive and negative externalities, public goods, and the tragedy of the commons.