One of the benefits of writing a successful text is the opportunity to revise—to delete the outdated and install the new, to rewrite misleading or ambiguous statements, to introduce more relevant illustrations, to improve the organizational structure, and to enhance the learning aids. A chapter-by-chapter list of changes is available at our website, www.mcconnell17.com. The more significant changes include the following.

New Analysis of Monetary Policy
We have revised the discussion of monetary policy to help the student understand the Federal Reserve Board's focus on the Federal funds rate, and how changes in that rate affect other interest rates and the overall economy. In “Interest Rates and Monetary Policy” (Chapter 14), we demonstrate how the Fed targets a specific federal funds rate and then uses open-market operations to drive the rate to that level and hold it there (see Figure 14.3). This new analysis will help students interpret the news as it relates to Fed announcements about the Federal funds rates.

Chapter-Level Learning Objectives
Several learning objectives have been included on the first page of each chapter. After reading a chapter, students should have mastered these core concepts. Questions in Test Banks I and II are organized according to these learning objectives.

Worked Problems
We continue to integrate the book and our website with in-text web buttons that direct readers to website content. Specifically, we have added a third web button consisting of a set of 50 worked problems. Written by Norris Peterson of Pacific Lutheran University, these pieces consist of side-by-side computational questions and the computational procedures used to derive the answers. In essence, they extend the textbook's explanations involving computations—for example, of real GDP, real GDP per capita, the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, per-unit production costs, economic profit, and more. From a student perspective, they provide “cookbook” help for problem solving.

This new content joins two carryover web buttons from the prior edition. “Interactive Graphs” (developed under the supervision of Norris Peterson) depict over 30 major graphs and instruct students to shift the curves, observe the outcomes, and derive relevant generalizations. “Origins of the Idea” are brief histories (written by Randy Grant of Linfield College ) of 70 major ideas identified in the book. Students find it interesting to learn about the economists who first developed ideas such as opportunity costs, equilibrium price, the multiplier, comparative advantage, and elasticity.

Two New Internet Chapters
Two new Internet chapters, along with an existing web chapter, are available for free use at our website, www.mcconnell17.com. The first of these, “Financial Economics” (Chapter 14Web), examines ideas such as compound interest, present value, arbitrage, risk, diversification, and the risk-return relationship. The second new chapter, “Resource and Energy Economics” (Chapter 27Web) is particularly timely. It covers topics such as the optimal rate of extraction, resource substitution, resource sustainability, oil prices, and alternative energy sources.

The two new Internet chapters were written by Sean Flynn. Sean is an important new member of the McConnell and Brue author team. He did his undergraduate work at USC, obtained his PhD from the University of California-Berkeley (2002), and teaches at Vassar College. He is the author of the best-selling Economics for Dummies. We are very excited to have Sean on the authorship team, since he shares our desire to present economics in a way that is understandable to all.

The third Internet chapter, “The Economics of Developing Countries” (16Web), is updated and available for instructors and students who have a special interest in that topic. Developing economies are often in the news and many college students have a keen interest in them.

The three web chapters have the same design, color, and features as regular book chapters, are readable in Adobe Acrobat format, and can be printed if desired. All are supported by the Study Guide,Test Banks, and other supplements to the book.

Consolidated Chapters
With overwhelming support of reviewers, we have consolidated the first two chapters of the prior edition into a single chapter, “Limits, Alternatives, and Choices” (Chapter 1). This new chapter quickly and directly moves the student into the subject matter of economics, demonstrating its methodology. This consolidation has the side-benefit of reducing Part I (the common chapters in Economics,Macroeconomics, and Microeconomics ) from six chapters to five.

We also combined the prior edition's separate chapters on fiscal policy and the public debt into a single chapter, “Fiscal Policy, Deficits, and Debt” (Chapter 11). The topics are closely related, and consolidation integrates them smoothly.

Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus, and Deadweight Loss Analysis
Our previous chapter on elasticity is now “Extensions of Demand and Supply Analysis” (Chapter 18). Along with elasticity, this chapter introduces consumer surplus, producer surplus, and deadweight loss. These topics appear again in the pure competition and pure monopoly chapters. Knowing that some instructors do not want to cover deadweight loss analysis, we have taken care to present the ideas in a way that will enable instructors to skip these insertions.

New and Relocated “Consider This” and “Last Word” Boxes
Our “Consider This” boxes are used to provide analogies, examples, or stories that help drive home central economic ideas in a student-oriented, real-world manner. For instance, the idea of trade secrets is described with the story of “cat gut” and violin strings, while McDonald's “McHits” and “McMisses” demonstrate the idea of consumer soveriegnty. These brief vignettes, each accompanied by a photo, illustrate key points in a lively, colorful, and easy-to-remember way.

New “Consider This” boxes includes such disparate topics as fast food lines (Chapter 1), the economics of war (Chapter 1), “buying American” (Chapter 2), ticket scalping (Chapter 3), salsa and coffee beans (Chapter 3), unprincipled agents (Chapter 4), a CPA and a house painter (Chapter 5), high European unemployment rates (Chapter 7), the Fed as a sponge (Chapter 14), returns on ethical investing (Chapter 14Web), women and economic growth (Chapter 16), waste-to-oil conversion methods (Chapter 27Web), art for art's sake (Chapter 28), and the hedging of risk in agriculture (Chapter 31).

Our “Last Word” pieces are lengthier applications and case studies located toward the end of each chapter. In this edition, we have included photos to pique student interest. New and relocated Last Words include those on pitfalls to sound economic reasoning (Chapter 1), a market for human organs (Chapter 3), the long-run problem of financing Social Security (Chapter 4), the diminishing impact of oil prices on the overall economy (Chapter 10), the relative performance of index funds versus actively managed funds (Chapter 14Web), a supply-side anecdote on who gets tax cuts (Chapter 15), economic growth in China (Chapter 16), efficiency gains from entry (Chapter 21), and mandatory health insurance (Chapter 33).

Contemporary Discussions and Examples
The seventeenth edition rerferences and discusses many current topics. Examples include the economics of the war in Iraq, China's rapid growth rate, large Federal budget deficits, the Doha Round, recent Fed monetary policy, the debate over inflation targeting, the productivity acceleration, the recent profit paths of Wal-Mart and General Motors, rapidly expanding and disappearing U.S. jobs, rising oil prices, recent antitrust actions, farm subsidy programs, welfare caseloads, prescription drug coverage under Medicare, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), immigration impacts, large U.S. trade deficits, offshoring of American jobs, and many more.