Comprehensive Explanations at an Appropriate Level
Economics is comprehensive, analytical, and challenging yet fully accessible to a wide range of students. The thoroughness and accessibility enable instructors to select topics for special classroom emphasis with confidence that students can read and comprehend other independently assigned material in the book. Where needed, an extra sentence of explanation is provided. Brevity at the expense of clarity is false economy.

Fundamentals of the Market System
Many economies throughout the world are making difficult transitions from planning to markets. Our detailed description of the institutions and operation of the market system in Chapter 2 is even more relevant than before. We pay particular attention to property rights, entrepreneurship, freedom of enterprise and choice, competition, and the role of profits because these concepts are often misunderstood by beginning students.

Early and Full Integration of International Economics
We give the principles and institutions of the global economy early treatment. Chapter 5 examines the growth of world trade and its major participants, specialization and comparative advantage, the foreign exchange market, tariffs and subsidies, and various trade agreements. This strong introduction to international economics permits “globalization” of later discussions in both the macro and the micro chapters. Then, we delve into the more difficult, graphical analysis of international trade and finance in the Chapters 35 and 36.

Early and Extensive Treatment of Government
Government is an integral component of modern capitalism. This book introduces the economic functions of government early and accords them systematic treatment in Chapter 4. Chapter 28 examines government and market failure in further detail, and Chapter 29 looks at salient facets of public choice theory and taxation. Both the macro and the micro sections of the text include issue- and policy-oriented chapters.

Step-by-Step, Two-Path Macro
We systematically present macroeconomics by:

• Examining the National Income and Product Accounts and previewing economic growth, unemployment, and inflation
• Discussing three key macro relationships
• Presenting the aggregate expenditures model (AE model) in a single chapter
• Developing the aggregate demand–aggregate supply model (AD-AS model)
• Using the AD-AS model to discuss fiscal policy
• Introducing monetary considerations into the AD-AS model
• Using the AD-AS model to discuss monetary policy
• Extending the AD-AS model to include both short-run and long-run aggregate supply
• Applying the “extended AD-AS model” to macroeconomic instability, economic growth, and disagreements on macro theory and policy.

We have organized Chapters 8, 9, and 10 to provide two alternative paths through macro. We know that nearly all instructors like to cover somewhere in their macro course the basic relationships between income and consumption, the real interest rate and investment, and changes in spending and changes in output (the multiplier, conceptually presented).  All of these topics are found in Chapter 8, “Basic Macroeconomic Relationships.” The instructor can proceed from Chapter 8 directly to either Chapter 9 “The Aggregate Expenditures Model” or Chapter 10, “Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply.” This organization allows those instructors who prefer not to teach the equilibrium AE model to skip it without loss of continuity. As before, the remainder of the macro is AD-AS based.

Emphasis on Technological Change and Economic Growth
This edition continues to emphasize economic growth. Chapter 1 uses the production possibilities curve to show the basic ingredients of growth. Chapter 7 explains how growth is measured and presents the facts of growth. Chapter 16 discusses the causes of growth, looks at productivity growth, and addresses some controversies surrounding economic growth. Chapter 7's Last Word examines the rapid economic growth in China. Chapter 16Web focuses on developing countries and the growth obstacles they confront. Chapter 24 provides an explicit and cohesive discussion of the microeconomics of technological advance, including topics such as invention, innovation, and diffusion; start-up firms; R&D decision making; market structure and R&D effort; and creative destruction.

Stress on the Theory of the Firm
We have given much attention to microeconomics in general and to the theory of the firm in particular, for two reasons. First, the concepts of microeconomics are difficult for most beginning students; abbreviated expositions usually compound these difficulties by raising more questions than they answer. Second, we wanted to couple analysis of the various market structures with a discussion of the impact of each market arrangement on price, output levels, resource allocation, and the rate of technological advance.

Focus on Economic Policy and Issues
For many students, the macro chapters on fiscal policy, monetary policy, and public debt and the micro chapters on antitrust, agriculture, income inequality, labor issues, and health care are where the action is centered. We guide that action along logical lines through the application of appropriate analytical tools. In the micro, we favor inclusiveness; instructors can effectively choose two or three chapters from Part 9.

Integrated Text and Website
Economics and its website are highly integrated through in-text web buttons, web-based end-of-chapter questions, bonus web chapters, multiple-choice self-tests at the website, online newspaper articles, math notes, and other features. Our website is part and parcel of our student learning package, customized to the book.