Principles of Economics

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Principles of Economics

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In recent years, innovative texts in mathematics, science, foreign languages, and other fields have achieved dramatic pedagogical gains by abandoning the traditional encyclopedic approach in favor of attempting to teach a short list of core principles in depth. Two well-respected writers and economists, Bob Frank and Ben Bernanke, have shown that the less-is-more approach affords similar gains in introductory economics. By far the best thought out and best executed principles text in this mold, Principles of Economics avoids excessive reliance on formal mathematical derivations and presents concepts intuitively through examples drawn from familiar contexts.

The text also encourages students to become 'Economic Naturalists': people who employ basic economic principles to understand and explain what they observe in the world around them. Such examples engage student interest while teaching them to see each feature of their economic landscape as the reflection of an implicit or explicit cost-benefit calculation.

This new Asian edition of Principles of Economics is targeted at undergraduate students in Asia. Adapted from the very successful third and fourth U.S. editions by well-established economics researchers and lecturers, Chen Kang and Lydia Gan, the text draws on examples and cases from Asian regions and countries in highlighting the key institutional, political and cultural differences between Asian economies and the economies in the developed world. It discusses Asian developing economies and the economic challenges and policy tools unique to them, as well as Asian transition economies such as China and Vietnam. It also highlights the special features that characterize the conduct of monetary policies of Asian central banks.

Combined with several pedagogical improvements, the result is an adaptation that is motivating to Asian students, an effective text for teaching, and an exciting first course in Economics.

Part 1: Introduction
1. Thinking Like an Economist
2. Comparative Advantage: The Basis for Exchange
3. Supply and Demand: An Introduction

Part 2: Competition and the Invisible Hand
4. Elasticity
5. Demand: The Benefit Side of the Market
6. Perfectly Competitive Supply: The Cost Side of the Market
7. Efficiency and Exchange
8. The Quest for Profit and the Invisible Hand

Part 3: Market Imperfections
9. Monopoly and Other Forms of Imperfect Competition
10. Strategic Choice in Oligopoly, Monopolistic Competition, and Everyday Life
11. Externalities and Property Rights
12. The Economies of Information

Part 4: Economics of Public Policy
13. Labor Markets, Poverty, and Income Distribution
14. The Environment, Health, and Safety
15. Public Goods and Tax Policy

Part 5: Macroeconomics: Data and Issues
16. Spending, Income, and GDP
17. Inflation and the Price Level
18. Wages and Unemployment

Part 6: The Economy in the Long Run
19. Economic Growth
20. Saving, Capital Formation, and Financial Markets
21. The Financial System, Money, and Prices

Part 7: The Economy in the Short Run
22. Short-Term Economic Fluctuations
23. Spending and Output in the Short Run
24. Stabilizing the Economy: The Role of the Federal Reserve
25. Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
26. Macroeconomic Policy

Part 8: The International Economy
27. Exchange Rates and the Open Economy
28. International Trade and Capital Flows

Lydia Gan

Dr. Lydia L. Gan is currently Associate Professor of the Department of Economics, Finance, and Decision Sciences at the School of Business, University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Prior to that, she was Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, from 1998'2007, and Assistant Research Fellow at Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1986'1988. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas in 1997, and earned both her Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Her current research interests include medical tourism, profiling of consumer behavior, Internet pricing behavior, and issues relating to intellectual property rights. Her research has been published in international journals such asEconomics e-Journal, Journal of Services Marketing, Information and Management, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, The Open Management Journal, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, Economic Outlook, Asia Pacific Journal of Economics and Business, and Asia Pacific Business Review.

Dr. Gan is currently conducting significant research on the four modes of medical tourism, focusing on estimating its demand function and cost comparisons across countries and regions. She is also interested in the industrial organizational aspects and strategic partnership of key market players such as medical tourism facilitators, U.S. and foreign healthcare providers, and U.S. employers and insurance companies. She won the 'Best Teacher of the Division' Award from the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, in 2002, and has taught graduate courses in Managerial Economics, Foundation of Analytical Methods, and undergraduate courses in Internet Economics, Industrial Organization, Mathematical Economics, Development Economics, and the Principles of Economics. Dr. Gan was included in 'Who's Who in the World' (Marquis) in 2009 as well as in 'Who's Who in Social Sciences Higher Education (WWSSHE) in 2006. She is also a member of the American Economic Association, the Economic Society of Singapore, and the Association of Christian Economics.

Kang Chen

Dr. Chen Kang received his B.Sc. in mathematics from Xiamen University in 1982, his M.Sc. in applied mathematics from Ohio University in 1984, and his Ph.D. in economics and applied mathematics from The University of Maryland at College Park in 1990. He worked at the World Bank's Socialist Economies Reform Unit and subsequently taught at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 1994, Dr. Chen moved to Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he was appointed first as Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer, and later Associate Professor; he was also the Head of the Economics Division from 1999 to 2005. Dr. Chen is also the Wang Yanan Chair Professor of Economics at Xiamen University.

From 1996 to 2004, Dr. Chen was the Head of the Econometric Modelling Unit of NTU, which maintained a quarterly econometric model of Singapore, released biannual forecasts for the Singapore economy, and provided policy analyses and recommendations, which were frequently reported by major news media including Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones Newswires, and Agence France Presse. Since 2005, he has led a joint research effort to build a quarterly econometric model of China and used the model for forecasting and policy simulations. Dr. Chen has also served as a consultant to Asian Development Bank, Singapore Trade Development Board, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Housing & Development Board, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and several multinational corporations.

Dr. Chen has published widely on issues relating to macroeconomic modeling, economic reform and development, and the economic role of government in professional journals, including Journal of Comparative Economics, European Journal of Political Economy, China Economic Quarterly, International Journal of Public Administration, and Economic Modelling. He is author of The Chinese Economy in Transition: Micro Changes and Macro Implications (Singapore University Press, 1995). His current research interests include agent based models, macroeconomic models, and China's economic reform. Dr. Chen served as vice president of the Economic Society of Singapore and director of the East Asian Economic Association. He currently serves on the editorial board of the European Journal of Political Economy, the advisory board ofChina Economic Quarterly, and the Singapore Economic Review.