Customer Reviews

Economics

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Just bought this textbook and currently I am reading through it. This book is magnificent. It's well written and easy to understand, with detailed diagrams that clearly convey the economic principles the authors are explaining in the surrounding text. Of course diagrams are found in every economics textbook, but the organization and neat presentation of this book does wonders to aid learning, and in my opinion goes beyond other books I have read. Each chapter builds on the previous and really enlightens the reader regarding the most important principles of economic theory (micro and macro).

For those worried about Krugman and whether he has just layered this book full of leftist propaganda, consider this opening paragraph from Chapter 5:

"New York City is a place where you can find almost anything - that is, almost anything, except a taxicab when you need one or a decent apartment at a rent you can afford. You might think that New York's notorious shortages of cabs and apartments are the inevitable price of big-city living. However, they are largely the product of government policies - specifically, of government policies that have, one way or another, tried to prevail over the market forces of supply and demand."

I'll be honest, as a avid reader of Krugman in the NYT, I'd never expected to read such a paragraph in this book. Krugman saying that sometimes the government is the problem? Krugman goes on to explain exactly what policies are to blame for the housing shortage and taxi cab shortage in New York.

The rest of the textbook is full of similar balance. He constantly keeps surprising me and making me think about things that I've never noticed before, such as the housing problem in New York. Who knew such a problem has a simple explanation? (The explanation they give is that the housing shortage is caused by rent control, "a law that prevents landlords from raising rents except when specifically given permission.")

He and Robin really deliver a fair and balanced discussion of economics from Adam Smith up to present day. The book is full of little tidbits of information that Krugman and Wells call "Economics in Action" and "For Inquiring Minds" that usually contain little stories he's simply pulled from his daily reading of the New York Times and other newspapers. He comments on them from an professional economist's point of view and relates them to the current discussion in whatever chapter they appear.

For example, in Chapter 3 under "Economics in Action," Robin writes (as far as I know, Krugman wrote the macro chapters, and Robin wrote the micro):

"Thousands in Mexico City protest rising food prices." So read the headline in the New York Times on February 1, 2007. Specifically, the demonstrators were protesting a sharp rise in the price of tortillas, a staple food of Mexico's poor, which had a gone from 25 cents a pound to between 35 and 45 cents a pound in just a few months.

Why were tortilla prices soaring? It was a classic example of what happens to equilibrium prices when supply falls. Tortillas are made from corn; much of Mexico's corn is imported from the United States, with the price of corn in both countries basically set in the U.S. corn market. And U.S. corn prices were rising rapidly thanks to the surging demand in a new market: the market for ethanol."

It's an interesting little factoid about a real life situation and he (or she) relates it to the subject of the chapter, which was Supply and Demand in that case. The book is littered with different examples on all sorts of topics in every chapter. And notice, once again Krugman could have gone off in a rant against the North American Free Trade agreement, and how the U.S. Government's subsidies to farming was also partly responsible for running Mexico's corn producers out of business by flooding the global market with cheap corn (or something to that effect), but he never does. He keeps it professional and on topic, and it really provides a great learning experience. This is one of those textbooks that is so good a teacher isn't needed to assist in learning process.

So needless to say I'm quite impressed. The few problems in the Second Edition I received from Amazon include various printing mistakes - such as on a few pages there is text printed on top of a graph that shouldn't be there. Not sure if that is just a one time printing error or something that is in all 2nd editions. But it's not enough to recommend staying away from this book. So if you are looking to learn more about economics, and even if you are just a layman and know nothing about economics, you can't go wrong with this book. I guarantee if you have even the slightest interest in this subject then you'll find this a delightful read.

The three most popular books for teaching freshman-level econ in college (and AP Econ in high schools) are, in order, McConnell and Brue, Mankiw, and this one.

It's being talked about as the next big text in the field.

If you read Krugman's column, he leans to the left, sometimes far to the left. But he's not like that in this book, which is firmly centrist.

And I'm no big Krugman fan, but I have to say: this book totally kills McConnell and Brue. Krugman's years of experience as a writer really show through: the text is never boring.

I have this book ("Economics") and have only dipped into it so far - but Amazon doesn't allow me to bypass the star rating so I'll give it 5, just to be positive.

My warning though is that, when I look at the book in Amazon, I am encouraged to buy "Macroeconomics" by the same authors.

The problem is, as far as I can tell from the chapter summaries and sample chapters on the publisher's website [...], "Macroecomics" has the same content as "Economics", except that "Economics" also includes microeconomics (which is another book in itself). (Incidentally, that website has lots of good material on the books, including sample chapters.)

In other words, the contents of "Economics" is very roughly:

1) Introduction to economics, supply & demand and other subjects common to both micro and macroeconomics;
2) Microeconomics;
3) Macroeconomics.

The separate book "Macroeconomics" is parts 1) & 3), and the separate book "Microeconomics" is parts 1) & 2).

[...]

This is a very low-level introductory textbook on economics. It assumes no prior background and is written to be accessible to a general audience. Most college students should have no trouble reading and understanding this book. The coverage of topics is pretty broad, and the book covers both macro- and micro-economics. The book, however, is extremely mainstream, to the point of being a bit lacking in coverage of topics. In addition, there is a disconnect between the book's prose (which is strictly verbal and has little math) and the problem sets, which are easy, but have a large quantitative component.

The style of writing is clear. The typesetting and layout are also very clear, with key terms highlighted and definitions listed in the margins. There are also about the right number of graphs and little inset paragraphs to keep things interesting. I found most of the graphs to be pretty informative. Although the book does not get into much mathematics, it does gently introduce some as the book goes on.

I have two complaints about this book. The biggest one is that it is written from a perspective that seems a bit biased, and omits a lot. The authors do not seem to adequately explore things that are wrong with our society, including poverty in countries like the U.S., and environmental problems. Occasionally, the authors make statements that are extremely objectionable. For example, when discussing money in chapter 30, the authors make the assertion that money's role as a store of value and medium of exchange are necessarily linked, but they do not discuss the ways in which these two roles can be contradictory in the long-run. The book also does not discuss alternative or complementary currency systems, and I also think it does not spend enough time talking about exchange rates of currencies. Overall, this book does not promote outside-the-box thinking. It paints a naive, rosy picture of the world, not acknowledging the problems in the world that cannot be addressed within the framework of ideas presented in the book.

My other complaint is about the problem sets. This book is almost exclusively qualitative in the prose and the discussion throughout the book. Very little mathematics of any kind is presented in the text of the book. However, many of the problem sets are basically math problems. The result is that a student with a strong math background will find the problem sets ridiculously easy, and a student with a weak math background may find them more of a struggle--independently of how well each student understands the material. I think that the solution to this problem would be to either keep the problem sets strictly conceptual and qualitative (like the prose in the book), or to include more mathematics in the text of the book. In current setup, there is an incongruity between the book and the problem sets.

Overall? Most introductory economics books are pretty bad, so in the global scheme of things, this might not be a bad choice of a textbook for a course, especially a course that does not require any prior background in math or economics. However, I do not think this book is ideal. I do not know of a better one, however...so I would be very grateful if someone could recommend a book that addresses the shortcomings I mentioned here...please post a comment on this review!

This book arrived to me on time. It arrived just as it was described, brand new in shrink rap with no writing or highlighting. I got my moneys worth for this book.

I have enjoyed this book. I'm currently taking an Economics class, which uses this book. I foind it to be very informative. Thank you.

~Mark~

I am a student of one of Brazil's top economics schools and mistakenly bought this book for my Introduction to Microeconomics class. Both Mankiw's and Krugman's study guides were listed as recommended reading at the course's online syllabus, but I chose this one as it seemed more modern and was co-written by a Nobel Prize winner. Later on I found out that the textbook the department would really use was Mankiw's - and only Mankiw's. Now I can see why.

This textbook is prolix, condescending and excessively simplistic. The authors' long-windedness turns one-phrase concept explanations into page-long silly stories filled with incredibly unnecessary remarks. It is as if the students weren't able to grasp the most intuitive concepts and come to the most simple conclusions and extrapolations by themselves. The study ends up being unproductive and boring.

It's biggest flaw, though, is their authors' constant fear to use any level of mathematics (even the most basic algebra won't show up at the problem sets). That is a major flaw if the student wants to become a decent professional or if their school intends to use a more serious, better quality textbook on Intermediate Microeconomics (such as Nicholson's) later on. The students will grow unused to math applications at economics, and, by the time it's needed for them to "get their hands dirty", they will face some serious problems.

In its defense, though, it has a sturdy binding, comprehensive graphs and a few interesting (even if slightly unnecessary) examples.

Overall, for the average high school student or a lower level undergraduate economics course, this is a recommendable textbook. For any mid or higher level introductory course, though, this is a very bad choice.

I gave it a 2 star rating only because of the description. This was not a brand new book. It was in perfect condition, but there was no aplia card included like there should be in a new book. Great book in perfect like new condition though.

This textbook will only confuse you! I am a graduate student of Economics at a respectable university.
Mr.Krugman likes to embellish his political views in the "Economics in Action" section.
Here is a piece of advice to you Mr.Krugman - try to actually explain the topics and not to
confuse students by unnecessary information.
I would like to point out that a reader would be better off with
another introductory Economics textbook.

Krugman is easily the most ignorant man calling himself an "economist" in the world today.

Keynesianism has failed over and over again and yet PK insists on browbeating us with a failed discredited ideology.

Rarely has there been such a collection of nonsense and drivel collected in one place.

We should all pity the poor freshman college students who are forced to read this stuff.

Ask yourself this question: if we have an economic crises that was caused by excessive debt and spending, how exactly can that crises be solved by more debt and spending?

Dont let the PHd and fancy math fool you! The crises cant be solved that way.

THere is no lack of demand, demand is infinite. What is needed is more savings and investment and less government spending and no deficits

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.