Economics
Author: William Boyes
Boyes and Melvin have developed the Sixth Edition of Economics to enhance its central features: direct and accessible writing, proven pedagogy, and thorough integration of global economic issues.
The text's international perspective has been strengthened and extended to focus on the implications of economic principles for business strategy. Extended coverage of topics affecting global competitiveness, such as resource pricing and foreign exchange markets, explicitly connects the study of economics with real-world business decisions.
- The Sixth Edition features greater coverage of macroeconomics, including the large-scale impact of war in Iraq and the role of financial market development in economic growth.
- The discussions of market failure and the different forms of economic and social regulation have been reorganized to facilitate learning. A stronger focus on the application of market theory to current, real-life issues—including the recent corporate accounting scandals—helps students to see the content's practical relevance.
- A consistent framework of instruction helps to improve students' understanding and performance in the course. Fundamental Questions reinforce 5–8 key points per chapter, appearing repeatedly throughout the chapter as well as the supplements.
- Powered by Blackboard, Eduspace is a customizable, powerful, and interactive platform that provides instructors with text-specific online content. Features of the Boyes/Melvin Economics course include presentation slides, photos, illustrations and links to group projects.
Table of Contents:
ContentsNote: Each chapter begins with a Preview and concludes with a Summary, Key Terms, Exercises, and an ACE Practice Test.
- I. Introduction to the Price System
- 1. Economics: The World Around You
- Why Study Economics?
- The Definition of Economics
- The Economic Approach
- Economic Insight: "'Free' Air?"
- Economically Speaking: "Choice of Major, Years of College Influence Student Debt"
- Appendix to Chapter 1. Working with Graphs
- Reading Graphs
- Constructing a Graph
- Slopes
- 2. Choice, Opportunity Costs, and Specialization
- Opportunity Costs
- Specialization and Trade
- Economically Speaking: "Guns and Butter"
- 3. Markets, Demand and Supply, and the Price System
- Markets
- Demand
- Supply
- Equilibrium: Putting Demand and Supply Together
- Global Business Insight: "The Foreign Exchange Market"
- Economically Speaking: "A Sleuth for Landlords with Eviction in Mind"
- 4. The Market System and the Private Sector
- The Market System
- Households
- Business Firms
- The International Sector
- Linking the Sectors
- Economic Insight: "Adam Smith"
- Economic Insight: "The Successful Entrepreneur (Sometimes It's Better to Be Lucky Than Good)"
- Economical Speaking "Report: Ramsey Friend Sold Information to National Enquirer"
- 5. The Public Sector
- The Circular Flow
- The Role of Government in the Market System
- Overview of the United States Government
- Government in Other Economies
- Global Business Insight: "Government Creates a Market for Fishing Rights"
- Economically Speaking: "A Big "Nein" toDeutsche Telekom; Telecommunications: Germany Still Doesn't Have a Completely Open Market"
- II. Macroeconomic Basics
- 6. National Income Accounting
- Measures of Output and Income
- Nominal and Real Measures
- Flows of Income and Expenditures
- Economic Insight: "The Consumer Price Index"
- Economically Speaking: "Hiding in the Shadows: The Growth of the Underground Economy"
- 7. An Introduction to the Foreign Exchange Market and the Balance of Payments
- The Foreign Exchange Market
- The Balance of Payments
- Global Business Insight: "Active Trading Around the World"
- Global Business Insight: "The Euro"
- Economically Speaking: "High Gas Prices, Weak Euro Result in Room Availability, Less-Crowded Facilities at Popular U.S. National Parks"
- 8. Unemployment and Inflation
- Business Cycles
- Unemployment
- Inflation
- Global Business Insight: "High Unemployment in Europe"
- Economically Speaking: "Things Really Are Tight at Most Levels of Job Market"
- 9. Macroeconomic Equilibrium: Aggregate Demand and Supply
- Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply, and Business Cycles
- Factors That Influence Aggregate Demand
- The Aggregate Demand Curve
- Aggregate Supply
- Aggregate Demand and Supply Equilibrium
- Economic Insight: "How Lack of Information in the Short Run Affects Wages in the Long Run"
- Global Business Insight: "Oil and Aggregate Supply"
- Economically Speaking: "The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index Plummets Nearly 15 Points"
- 10. Aggregate Expenditures
- Consumption and Saving
- Investment
- Government Spending
- Net Exports
- The Aggregate Expenditures Function
- Economic Insight: "Permanent Income, Life Cycles, and Consumption"
- Economically Speaking: "U.S. Trade Deficit in 2002 Largest in History"
- Appendix to Chapter 10. An Algebraic Model of Aggregate Expenditures
- 11. Income and Expenditures Equilibrium
- Equilibrium Income and Expenditures
- Changes in Equilibrium Income and Expenditures
- Aggregate Expenditures and Aggregate Demand
- Economic Insight: "John Maynard Keynes"
- Economic Insight: "The Paradox of Thrift"
- Economically Speaking: "Mexico: Hostage to Its Neighbor's Troubles"
- Appendix to Chapter 11. An Algebraic Model of Income and Expenditures Equilibrium
- III. Macroeconomic Policy
- 12. Fiscal Policy
- Fiscal Policy and Aggregate Demand
- Fiscal Policy in the United States
- Fiscal Policy in Different Countries
- Economic Insight: "Supply-Side Economics and the Laffer Curve"
- Economic Insight: "The Taxpayer's Federal Government Credit Card Statement"
- Global Business Insight: "Value-Added Tax"
- Economically Speaking: "Brussels Takes Action Against France over Budget Deficit"
- Appendix to Chapter 12. An Algebraic Examination of the Balanced-Budget Change in Fiscal Policy
- 13. Money and Banking
- What Is Money?
- Banking
- Banks and the Money Supply
- Global Business Insight: "Islamic Banking"
- Economically Speaking: "They Love Our Money"
- 14. Monetary Policy
- The Federal Reserve System
- Implementing Monetary Policy
- Monetary Policy and Equilibrium Income
- Economic Insight: "What's on a 20-Dollar Bill?"
- Global Business Insight: "The European Central Bank"
- Economically Speaking: "Fed Leaves Rates Alone, but Message Needs Translation: Strange Statement Puzzles Economists"
- 15. Macroeconomic Policy: Tradeoffs, Expectations, Credibility, and Sources of Business Cycles
- The Phillips Curve
- The Role of Expectations
- Credibility and Time Inconsistency
- Sources of Business Cycles
- The Link Between Monetary and Fiscal Policies
- Economic Insight: "The Natural Rate of Unemployment"
- Economic Insight: "Why Wages Don't Fall During Recessions"
- Economically Speaking: "War Worries Hurting U.S. Markets: Fed Chief Greenspan Warns of Further Interest Rate Cuts if Sluggishness Continues"
- 16. Macroeconomic Viewpoints: New Keynesian, Monetarist, and New Classical
- Keynesian Economics
- Monetarist Economics
- New Classical Economics
- Comparison and Influence
- Economic Insight: "Milton Friedman"
- Economically Speaking: "The Ghosts of Christmas Past Haunt Economists"
- IV. Economic Growth and Development
- 17. Economic Growth
- Defining Economic Growth
- The Determinants of Growth
- Productivity
- Economic Insight: "Technological Advance: The Change in the Price of Light"
- Economically Speaking: "U.S. Updating Its Economic Measurements"
- 18. Development Economics
- The Developing World
- Obstacles to Growth
- Development Strategies
- Foreign Investment and Aid
- Economies in Transition from Socialism
- Global Business Insight: "Economic Development in the Americas"
- Economically Speaking: "Food Aid"
- 19. Globalization
- The Meaning of Globalization
- Globalization Controversy
- Globalization, Economic Growth, and Incomes
- Financial Crises and Globalization
- Global Business Insight: "The World Trade Organization"
- Economically Speaking: "Germans' Coziness Puts Nation at Risk"
- V. Product Market Basics
- 20. Elasticity: Demand and Supply
- The Price Elasticity of Demand
- The Use of Price Elasticity of Demand
- Determinants of the Price Elasticity of Demand
- Other Demand Elasticities
- Supply Elasticities
- Global Business Insight: "Dumping"
- Economically Speaking: "Higher Gas Prices Make Future Murky for Big SUVs: Impact of Rising Fuel Costs Could Be Bigger in Canada Than U.S."
- 21. Consumer Choice
- Decisions
- Utility and Choice
- The Demand Curve Again
- Economic Insight: "Does Money Buy Happiness?"
- Economically Speaking: "Why Sudden Wealth Will Not Make You Happy"
- Appendix to Chapter 21. Indifference Analysis
- Indifference Curves
- Budget Constraint
- Consumer Equilibrium
- 22. Supply: The Costs of Doing Business
- Firms and Production
- From Production to Costs
- Cost Schedules and Cost Curves
- The Long Run
- Economic Insight: "Overhead"
- Economically Speaking: "Merge or Die"
- VI. Product Markets
- 23. Profit Maximization
- Profit Maximization
- Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost
- Selling Environments or Market Structure
- Global Business Insight: "Brisk Business in Measuring Economic Profit"
- Economically Speaking: "Business Ethics Guarantee Value to All Interested Parties"
- 24. Perfect Competition
- The Perfectly Competitive Firm in the Short Run
- The Long Run
- Economically Speaking: "Avoid 'Commoditization'"
- 25. Monopoly
- The Market Structure of Monopoly
- The Demand Curve Facing a Monopoly Firm
- Profit Maximization
- Market Power and Price Discrimination
- Comparison of Perfect Competition and Monopoly
- Economically Speaking: "Conflict Diamonds; Americans Can Stop the Damage They Do"
- 26. Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly
- Monopolistic Competition
- Oligopoly and Interdependence
- Summary of Market Structures
- Economic Insight: "The Prisoner's Dilemma"
- Economically Speaking: "Authorities Gather to Combat Warring Drug Cartels"
- 27. Antitrust and Regulation
- Antitrust Policy
- Regulation
- The Securities and Exchange Commission
- Global Business Insight: "The California Debacle"
- Economically Speaking: "Don't Let It Happen Again: Why Didn't the Post-'65 Fixes Stop This Blackout?"
- 28. Government and Market Failure
- Externalities
- Private Property Rights
- Public Goods
- Asymmetric Information
- Government Failure
- Global Business Insight: "Why Aren't Cows and Chickens on the Endangered Species List?"
- Economically Speaking: "Bates College Students Retire Air Pollution Permit Worth a Ton of Sulphur Dioxide"
- VII. Resource Markets
- 29. Resource Markets
- Buyers and Sellers of Resources
- The Market Demand for and Supply of Resources
- How Firms Decide What Resources to Buy
- Economic Insight: "The Company Town"
- Economically Speaking: "Agent: Eagles, McNabb Agree to Deal Worth up to $115 Million"
- 30. The Labor Market
- The Supply of Labor
- Wage Differentials
- Discrimination
- Wage Differentials and Government Policies
- Economic Insight: "The Overworked American"
- Economically Speaking: "Higher Apathy"
- 31. Financial Markets: Institutions and Recent Events
- Equity
- The Equity Market
- Fraud and Accounting Shenanigans
- Bonds
- Economic Insight: "The P/E Ratio"
- Global Business Insight: "Stock Market Booms and Busts"
- Global Business Insight: "Country Bond Ratings"
- Economically Speaking: "Accountants Figure Law to Benefit Them"
- 32. The Land Market and Natural Resources
- Land
- Nonrenewable Resources
- Renewable Resources
- Economically Speaking: "Debate: Is Anti-Sprawl Really 'Smart' Growth?"
- 33. Aging, Social Security, and Health Care
- Aging and Social Security
- Health Economics
- Global Business Insight: "The World Is Aging"
- Economic Insight: "Myths About Social Security"
- Global Business Insight: "Health-Care Spending in Various Nations"
- Economically Speaking: "Many Travel a Painful Circuit for Their Managed Health Care"
- 34. Income Distribution, Poverty, and Government Policy
- Income Distribution and Poverty
- The Poor
- Government Antipoverty Policies
- Income Distribution Among Nations
- Global Business Insight: "Economic Development and Happiness"
- Economically Speaking: "Zimbabwe: Income Distribution and Policy"
- Why Study Economics?