15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
serious book for serious ADVANCED students, October 30, 2008
This review is from: Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus (Hardcover)
I am a student at the University of Michigan and this is the book we use for our intermediate microeconomics theory class. To start, this is NOT the book for you if you are weak in math (ie. can't stand calculus) and lack a solid understanding of basic microeconomics. If you are only trying to get the fundamentals, like say, how monopolies behave in a market economy or what a supply and demand curve looks like then go for the one by Pindyck. This book is for those who want to gain a DEEPER understanding of micro. Like given a trade between two individuals, what would be the equilibrium bundle reached by both parties considering their unique indifference curves. And how much would a consumer demand given a budget constraint. These are some of the topics covered in this book and Perloff has done a superb job showing the concepts.
The math in this textbook is somewhat advanced for the average undergraduate. if you don't know what a partial derivative is, then you will be lost. There are some first order differential equations and Lagrangians in there as well. In order to get the most out of this book I would say you need to have a solid understanding of calculus I and II, and a basic knowledge of III and IV. The concepts themselves aren't that complicated it's just that Perloff uses a lot of calculus to show them. But like I said, if you ARE good at math then this book will tell you more about intermediate micro and leave you with a far better theoretical background than any other.
Indeed, this is arguably the BEST undergraduate textbook for intermediate microeconomics. It's written like how a true microeconomics theorist would write it, and it is way better than the classic by Varian. The book actually shows you the mathematical derivations behind the concepts and Perloff always cut to the heart of the issue and explain things in the most succinct manner. Plus there's also a ton of problems after each chapter with solutions in the back. Given the fact that microeconomics theory is essentially a physics or a math class, Perloff's book gets an A+ for giving students lots of problems to work on. Without which anyone would be lost on a quantitative based exam.
All in all, I would highly recommend this book for anyone with a serious interest in microeconomics and/or a desire to pursue micro theory at a graduate level later on.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The peak in teaching and learning, January 27, 2009
This review is from: Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus (Hardcover)
I think that this book is the best among many other I have read so far in Microeconomics. At the same time it includes the foundations of microeconomics, it brings you and raise you to the pragmatic world of how, why precision.
If you like precision, this is the tool for its in Microeconomics.
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1.0 out of 5 stars
The Worst., October 9, 2011
This is, without a doubt, the least comprehensible textbook I've ever come across. None of the examples are the slightest bit helpful.
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