Microeconomics [Paperback]

Hugh Gravelle (Author), Ray Rees (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0582404878 | ISBN-13: 978-0582404878 | Publication Date: December 31, 2004 | Edition: 3

This is a standard text for upper level undergraduate/postgraduate microeconomics. The book begins at the intermediate level and ends at a level appropriate for the graduate student. Updated and revised, this is a new edition of one of the best-selling advanced microeconomics texts to be published in Europe. This well informed book provides a comprehensive exposition of modern microeconomic theory, covering many of the issues currently being researched and debated. The book offers very rigorous, mathematical treatment of the topics discussed making it appropriate for graduate as well as able intermediate level students. The writing style is clear and concise and the book is particularly liked for the thoroughness with which the concepts are dealt.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Comprehensive, well informed and a joy to read. It was hard to put the book down once I had started to read it. In terms of the coverage, it will be hard to find a matching text"

Dr Sanjit Dhami, University of Leicester

 

This highly regarded text is one of the best-selling advanced microeconomics books to be published in Europe. Updated and revised, the new edition provides a comprehensive exposition of modern microeconomic theory, covering many of the issues currently being researched and debated.

As in previous editions, the third edition offers rigorous treatment of the topics discussed, with the major emphasis placed on giving the student an intuitive understanding of microeconomic models and theories. This book provides the student with a good understanding of the nature and purpose of microeconomic theories and the way the theories interrelate to form a coherent whole. Students are encouraged, with the use of the exercises which are integral to the book, to develop the ability to apply microeconomic theories in solving problems.

 

Key Features

• New!
• Chapter on game theory.

• New! Chapters on uncertainty and asymmetric information have been extended and restructured.
• Microeconomic concepts are dealt with rigorously, comprehensively and in depth.
• Numerous exercises throughout form an integral part of the book.

• The writing style is clear and concise.
• Discussions of literature and suggestions for further reading are in an extensive set of notes at the end of the book.
• Mathematics of optimization is included in a number of short appendices at the end of the book.

Beginning at the intermediate level and ending at a level appropriate for the graduate student, this is a core text for upper level undergraduate and taught graduate microeconomics courses.

Hugh Gravelle is Professor at the National Primary Care Research and Development Center, University of York.

Ray Rees is Professor of Economics, at Ludwig Maximillans University, Germany.

About the Author

Preface1 The nature and scope of microeconomicsA Concepts and methodsB The economic and social framework2 The theory of the consumerA The preference orderingB The feasible setC The consumption decisionD The comparative statics of consumer behaviourE Offer curves and net demand curvesAppendix 1 : The lexicographic orderingAppendix 2 : Existence of a utility function 3 Consumer theory : dualityA The expenditure functionB The indirect utility function, Roy's identity and the Slutsky equationC Measuring the benefits of price changesD Composite commodities, separability and homotheticity 4 Further models of consumer behaviourA Revealed preferenceB The consumer as a labour supplierC Consumption and the allocation of timeD Households5 ProductionA IntroductionB The production functionB Variations in scaleC Variations in input proportionsD The multi-product case6 CostA IntroductionB Long-run cost minimizationC Short-run cost minimizationD Cost minimization with several plantsE Multi-product cost functions7 Supply and firm objectivesA Long-run profit maximizationB Short-run profit maximizationC The multi-product firmD The profit function and comparative staticsE The entrepreneurial firmF Labour managed firms8 The theory of a competitive marketA Short-run equilibriumB Stability of equilibriumC Long-run equilibrium9 MonopolyA IntroductionB Price and output determination under monopolyC Price discriminationD Monopoly welfare loss10 Input markets A Demand for inputsB MonopsonyC Unions as monopoly input suppliersD Bilateral monopoly11 Capital marketsA IntroductionB Optimal consumption over timeC The optimal investment decisionD Capital market equilibrium under certaintyE Extensions to many periods 12 General equilibrium A IntroductionB Walrasian equilibrium of a competitive economyC Existence of Walrasian equilibriumD Stability of Walrasian equilibriumE Edgeworth exchange theoryF Exchange, equilibrium and the core13 Welfare economics A IntroductionB Pareto efficient resource allocationC Welfare functions and the Pareto criterionD Pareto efficiency and competitive marketsE Distribution and marketsF Arrow's impossibility theorem14 Market failure and government failureA The causes of market failureB Instances of market failureC Theory of the second best D Government failure 15 Game theory A IntroductionB Game representation and solutions C Imperfect and incomplete informationD Mixed strategies E Cooperative bargainingF Non-cooperative bargainingG Delay and disagreement in bargaining16 Oligopoly 17 Choice under uncertaintyA IntroductionB A formalization of 'uncertainty'C Choice under uncertaintyD Properties of the utility functionE Risk aversion and indifference curvesF Measures of risk G Comparative statics under uncertainty 18 Production under uncertaintyA IntroductionB Competitive firm under uncertaintyC Production with futures markets19 Insurance, risk spreading and risk poolingA Introduction B The insurance decisionC Incomplete insurance marketsD Risk spreading: the Arrow-Lind TheoremE Risk poolingF Asymmetric information in insurance markets : adverse selectionG Asymmetric information in insurance markets : moral hazard20 Agency and contract theory 21 General equilibrium under uncertainty and incomplete marketsA Introduction B Complete markets in state contingent claimsC State contingent commoditiesD Efficiency with productionE The stock marketF Incomplete stock marketsFurther readingMathematical AppendicesA Structure of optimisation problemsB Solutions: questions and conceptsC Existence of solutionsD Local and global optimaE Uniqueness of solutionsF Interior and boundary optimaG Location of the optimum: method of LagrangeH Concave programming and the KuhnTucker conditionsI Second order conditions and comparative staticsJ The envelope theoremK Fixed point theoremsL Bayes ruleIndex

Product Details

• Paperback: 738 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (UK); 3 edition (December 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582404878
• ISBN-13: 978-0582404878
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,789,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Text. Very understandable mathematical explanations, December 5, 2005

By 

Banchongsan Charoensook (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microeconomics (Paperback)

Considering it as an advanced Microeconomic textbook, I do find mathematical proof in this book very easy to understand. Most importantly, this book gives you both the intuition behind the equations and mathematical explanations for them. The chapter in welfare economics is particularly good. In comparison to other advanced micro text such as Mascolell's Microeconomic Theory and Varian's Microeconomic Analysis, this book certainly has its own place. Varian's attempt to keep his book concise often forces him to skip some steps in mathemtical proof which makes readers who are not good at maths like me hard to follow,though his verbal explanation is very brialliant. And Mascollel's explanation tends to confuse you though it is the most comprehensive book in the market. i believe this book nicely fulfills the gap between these two books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on microeconomics ever written., March 15, 2000

By 

Luís P. Santos Pinto (La Jolla, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microeconomics (Paperback)

This book is truely amazing. It covers most topics in microeconomics with clarity, rigor,detail and most of all giving the economic intuiton that students need so badly. The best presentation on uncertainty and insurance markets that I have seen so far. This book is all an undergraduate or even a graduate student needs to find his way in the deep waters of microeconomics. A must!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Onne of the bridge book for advanced Microeconomics, October 23, 2009

By 

Praveen Kishore (Harvard, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microeconomics (Paperback)

It is a fairly advanced book on microeconomics, at a higher level then Varian's famous undergraduate textbook 'Intermediate Microeconomics' containing mathematical treatment of topics. The book does not contain very advanced treatment of micro (like the one you find in MWG - which becomes almost impossible to understand, if you do not already have expert knowledge of Micro)and is also not at the undergraduate level containing no mathematical/calculus treatment of various topics. Thus, it is a book suitable for those who have undergraduate level familiarity with Micro but find MWG (or for that matter even Varian's graduate textbook 'Micoreconomic Analysis')very difficult to follow. One of the best book on advanced microeconomics is 'Advanced Microeconomics' by Jehle, which can be taken up beofre attempting MWG/Varian, but this book could be the first book if one has difficulty following even the Jehle book. In addition, the book could be quite suitable for first year Masters level Microeconomcis as taught in various universities across the globe. This book is certainly at a higher level then another popular book in Europe, by Perloff titled 'Microeconomics theory and applications with calculus'.

The third edition contains all the modern advances in Microeconomic theory and is perfectly aligned with the topics covered nowadays in Microeconomic courses in best of the universities - like Game theory, expected utilities, contract etc, though briefly, in addition to regular stuff - consumer theory and producer theory. It also contains Mathematical (optimization) appendix at the end which even discusses Kuhn-Tucker condtions!!

However, there are some serious issues which must be pointed out here for helping students make an infromed decisions. Although there are good number of questions/exercises (at the end of each section!) there are no answeres at the end, which is a big letdown as you can not check you answeres. Further, there does not appear to be any answere book/solution manual availabe (I am not sure, but I could not locate one). Further, the presentation and style of the book is not very clear and intutive and sometimes it is difficult to follow what the authors are trying to convey (though this may be a subjective experience of mine and may be different for other readers).


Despite these serious shortcomings, the book, is recommended for anyone who is looking for a fairly advanced microeconomics textbook before tackling the heavy ones like MWG/Varian.