New Text Helps Students Understand the Economy

Whether it's the devaluation of the dollar, the rising cost of oil or the fluctuating federal interest rate, the state of the U.S. economy is a major concern of Americans in their everyday lives. More specifically, today's college students want to learn about economics in order to better understand the world around them and successfully prepare for their own financial futures. Microeconomics (McGraw-Hill Higher Education), a new intermediate-level microeconomics textbook, approaches the fundamental principles and theories of microeconomics with a fresh, relevant, and up-to-date focus.

"Most students will not turn out to be economists, but whether they end up making business decisions, helping design public policies or simply managing their own money, the tools of economics can prove invaluable to them in real life," said B. Douglas Bernheim, who co-authored the book with Michael D. Whinston. "Our purpose in writing this book is to provide students with a treatment of intermediate microeconomics that stimulates their interest in the field and starts them on the path toward 'thinking like an economist'," added Whinston.

"Microeconomics provides unique insight into the complicated world of economics and offers students and professors innovative content they can relate to personally," said Kevin Kane, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Business and Economics Group. "The dynamic author team of Bernheim and Whinston, each thought leaders and accomplished researchers in their own right, make microeconomics completely approachable without oversimplifying the critical, fundamental concepts."

Bernheim and Whinston developed Microeconomics to refresh the teaching of modern microeconomic theory with clearly written, engaging content and innovative pedagogy that provides students with more accessible ways to understand and master difficult concepts. The text includes more than 100 real-world applications that will stimulate and motivate students by illustrating key economic concepts in action. Microeconomics focuses on the core principles of the intermediate microeconomics course: individuals and firms making decisions, competitive markets, and market failures. The authors carefully motivate each theoretical topic when it is introduced, and thoroughly explain its relevance. An accessible text that does not require knowledge of calculus, Microeconomics nevertheless offers innovative techniques for teaching students to solve a wide range of quantitative problems.

The text begins with a short section covering such basic principles as supply and demand, as well as marginal analysis. The second section of the book examines economic decision making by consumers and firms. Innovative chapters cover topics in game theory, behavioral economics, and decisions involving time and uncertainty. The final section provides a thorough explanation of markets and how they work, beginning with competitive markets and moving on to market failures. The chapters are carefully written to provide instructors with flexibility in organizing their courses. For example, an instructor can move from basic producer and consumer theory to competitive markets, and then cover more advanced topics in decision making like time, uncertainty, and strategy as time permits.

Microeconomics is designed to support one- or two-term intermediate microeconomic courses taught in departments of economics and business schools and can also be used for both graduate and undergraduate economics courses taught in public policy schools. Schools with more advanced principles courses will find the book engaging, as well. Currently, more than 20 schools have adopted the text, including Purdue University, Texas Tech University, Yale University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Southern California.

Bernheim and Whinston met while in graduate school at MIT in the early 1980s. Sharing a passion for research, discovery and detail, these two men have worked together for more than 20 years on a variety of projects and have co-authored eight published articles, in addition to Microeconomics. Both are widely recognized as leaders in the field of microeconomics. Bernheim is currently affiliated with Stanford University and Whinston with Northwestern University.

Additional information on the text and the authors can be found at http://www.mhhe.com/bernheim1e.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. It is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

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  (212) 904-3214
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SOURCE: McGraw-Hill Higher Education

CONTACT: Tom Stanton
McGraw-Hill Education
212 904-3214
tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

Web site: http://www.mheducation.com/
http://www.mhhe.com/bernheim1e