Customer Reviews

Schaum's Outline of Microeconomic Theory

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Whether you need to use this to get through ECON 300 or a more advanced econ class this is a very useful how-to guide. There is little discussion of theory and no yakking -- just straightforward microeconomic problems and parables. Use it for review or to get you through your final exam. Very helpful and much clearer than your textbook.

This book is an intermediate microeconomics book intended primarily for undergraduate, upper division students. However, those not attending college can also benefit from this book by using it for independent study or reference material. There are no major prerequisites other than some knowledge of basic economics. For those who have a calculus background, the author does include one to three solved problems at the end of the majority of the chapters which are clearly marked.

Of the 14 chapters that make up this book, one is an added chapter and three are optional chapters. The added chapter introduces such topics as the Lerner and Herfindahl indexes which deal with measuring monopoly power, peak-load and cost-plus pricing, and game theory. Some of the concepts presented in the three optional chapters are: the Hicksian and Slutsky substitution effects of a price change, deriving indifference curves from inferred consumers' preferences, price index numbers, utility theory under uncertainity, the Cobb-Douglas production function, linear programming, and general equilibrium and welfare economics.

A weakness of this book concerns how some of the concepts are presented. In other words, the author introduces some new ideas at the end of some of the chapters in the "problems" section rather than in the main text. However, overall, I think this book provides valuable information that can benefit many people, even those who have a minimal economics background. The author presents a reasonably clear explanation of the subject matter covered which includes providing a glossary at the end of each chapter.

As stated I have 30+ Schaum's Outlines and have used them since being a college student in the '70s. Though some Schaum's are better than the others, I have never been disappointed elative to the small prices charged. It is great to have so many problems to workout and check your answers.