Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition

Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition

by Sean Masaki Flynn
Released October 2023
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781394161331

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Book description

Learn the basics of economics and keep up to date on our ever-changing economy

Whether you’re studying economics in high school or college, or you’re just interested in taking a peek into the complexities of how money moves, Economics For Dummies is the go-to reference that transforms complex economic concepts into easy-to-understand reading. With the simple explanations in this book, you’ll master key topics like supply and demand, consumer behavior, and how governments and central banks attempt to avoid—or at least ameliorate—business downturns and recessions. Plus, you’ll learn what’s going on these days with inflation, interest rates, labor shortages, and the Federal Reserve. Studying for an exam? This Dummies guide has your back, with online practice and chapter quizzes to help you get the score you need. It’s time to recon econ, the Dummies way.

  • Get a grasp on the unchanging fundamentals of economics
  • Dive into behavioral economics and consumer decision making
  • Learn what drives economic growth and inequality
  • Solidify your knowledge with practice questions and quizzes

Economics For Dummies is an approachable reference book for students, as well as an informative guide for anyone interested in learning more about today’s economy.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Icons Used in This Book
    4. Beyond the Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
  5. Part 1: Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity
    1. Chapter 1: What Economics Is and Why You Should Care
      1. Considering a Little Economic History
      2. Framing Economics as the Science of Scarcity
      3. Sending Microeconomics and Macroeconomics to Separate Corners
      4. Understanding How Economists Use Models and Graphs
    2. Chapter 2: Cookies or Ice Cream? Exploring Consumer Choices
      1. Describing Human Behavior with a Choice Model
      2. Pursuing Personal Happiness
      3. You Can’t Have Everything: Examining Limitations
      4. Making Your Choice: Deciding What and How Much You Want
      5. Exploring Violations and Limitations of the Economist’s Choice Model
    3. Chapter 3: Producing Stuff to Maximize Happiness
      1. Figuring Out What’s Possible to Produce
      2. Deciding What to Produce
      3. Promoting Technology and Innovation
  6. Part 2: Microeconomics: The Science of Consumer and Firm Behavior
    1. Chapter 4: Supply and Demand Made Easy
      1. Deconstructing Demand
      2. Sorting Out Supply
      3. Bringing Supply and Demand Together
      4. Price Controls: Keeping Prices Away from Market Equilibrium
    2. Chapter 5: Introducing Homo Economicus, the Utility-Maximizing Consumer
      1. Choosing by Ranking
      2. Getting Less from More: Diminishing Marginal Utility
      3. Choosing Among Many Options When Facing a Limited Budget
      4. Deriving Demand Curves from Diminishing Marginal Utility
    3. Chapter 6: The Core of Capitalism: The Profit-Maximizing Firm
      1. A Firm’s Goal: Maximizing Profits
      2. Facing Competition
      3. Analyzing a Firm’s Cost Structure
      4. Comparing Marginal Revenues with Marginal Costs
      5. Pulling the Plug: When Producing Nothing Is Your Best Bet
    4. Chapter 7: Why Economists Love Free Markets and Competition
      1. Ensuring That Benefits Exceed Costs: Competitive Free Markets
      2. When Free Markets Lose Their Freedom: Dealing with Deadweight Losses
      3. Hallmarks of Perfect Competition: Zero Profits and Lowest Possible Costs
    5. Chapter 8: Monopolies: Bad Behavior When Competition Is Lacking
      1. Examining Profit-Maximizing Monopolies
      2. Comparing Monopolies with Competitive Firms
      3. Considering Good Monopolies
      4. Regulating Monopolies
    6. Chapter 9: Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Middle Grounds
      1. Oligopolies: Looking at the Allure of Joining Forces
      2. Understanding Incentives to Cheat on a Cartel Agreement
      3. Regulating Oligopolies
      4. Studying a Hybrid: Monopolistic Competition
  7. Part 3: Applying the Theories of Microeconomics
    1. Chapter 10: Property Rights and Wrongs
      1. Allowing Markets to Reach Socially Optimal Outcomes
      2. Examining Externalities: The Costs and Benefits Others Feel from Your Actions
      3. Tragedy of the Commons: Overexploiting Commonly Owned Resources
    2. Chapter 11: Asymmetric Information and Public Goods
      1. Facing Up to Asymmetric Information
      2. Providing Public Goods
    3. Chapter 12: Internet Economics: Networks and Platforms
      1. Examining Economies of Scale among Internet Businesses
      2. Noticing Network Effects
      3. Deconstructing Digital Platforms
      4. Regulating the Digital Economy
    4. Chapter 13: Behavioral Economics: Investigating Irrationality
      1. Explaining the Need for Behavioral Economics
      2. Complementing Neo-Classical Economics with Behavioral Economics
      3. Examining Our Amazing, Efficient, and Error-Prone Brains
      4. Surveying Prospect Theory
      5. Countering Myopia and Time Inconsistency
      6. Gauging Fairness and Self-Interest
  8. Part 4: Macroeconomics: The Science of Economic Growth and Stability
    1. Chapter 14: How Economists Measure the Macroeconomy
      1. Getting a Grip on the GDP and Its Parts
      2. Diving In to the GDP Equation
      3. Making Sense of International Trade and Its Effect on the Economy
    2. Chapter 15: Inflation Frustration: Why More Money Isn’t Always Good
      1. Buying an Inflation: When Too Much Money Is a Bad Thing
      2. Measuring Inflation
      3. Pricing the Future: Nominal and Real Interest Rates
    3. Chapter 16: Understanding Why Recessions Happen
      1. Introducing the Business Cycle
      2. Striving for Full-Employment Output
      3. Returning to Y*: The Natural Result of Price Adjustments
      4. Responding to Economic Shocks: Short-Run and Long-Run Effects
      5. Heading toward Recession: Getting Stuck with Sticky Prices
      6. Achieving Equilibrium with Sticky Prices: The Keynesian Model
    4. Chapter 17: Fighting Recessions with Monetary and Fiscal Policy
      1. Stimulating Demand to End Recessions
      2. Generating Inflation: The Risk of Too Much Stimulation
      3. Figuring Out Fiscal Policy
      4. Dissecting Monetary Policy
    5. Chapter 18: Grasping Origins and Effects of Financial Crises
      1. Understanding How Debt-Driven Bubbles Develop
      2. Seeing the Bubble Burst
      3. After the Crisis: Looking at Recovery
  9. Part 5: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 19: Ten Seductive Economic Fallacies
      1. The Lump-of-Labor Fallacy
      2. The Overpopulation Fallacy
      3. The Sequence Fallacy
      4. The Protectionism Fallacy
      5. The Fallacy of Composition
      6. The All-In Fallacy
      7. The Market-Instability Fallacy
      8. The Cheap-Foreign-Wages Fallacy
      9. The Tax-Incentives Fallacy
      10. The Unintended-Consequences Fallacy
    2. Chapter 20: Ten Economic Ideas to Hold Dear
      1. Self-Interest Can Improve Society
      2. Free Markets Require Regulation
      3. Economic Growth Relies on Innovation
      4. Freedom and Democracy Make Us Richer
      5. Education Raises Living Standards
      6. Intellectual Property Boosts Innovation
      7. Weak Property Rights Cause All Environmental Problems
      8. International Trade Is a Good Thing
      9. Government Can Provide Public Goods
      10. Preventing Inflation Is Easy
    3. Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Super-Famous Economists
      1. Adam Smith
      2. David Ricardo
      3. Karl Marx
      4. Alfred Marshall
      5. John Maynard Keynes
      6. Kenneth Arrow and Gerard Debreu
      7. Milton Friedman
      8. Paul Samuelson
      9. Robert Solow
      10. Gary Becker
      11. Robert Lucas
    4. Chapter 22: Ten (Or So) Recent Nobel Laureates in Economics
      1. Amartya Sen
      2. Daniel Kahneman
      3. Elinor Ostrom
      4. Dan McFadden
      5. Vernon Smith
      6. George Akerlof
      7. Esther Duflo
      8. Paul Krugman
      9. David Card
      10. Richard Thaler
      11. Robert Shiller
      12. Ben Bernanke
  10. Glossary
  11. Index
  12. About the Author
  13. Connect with Dummies
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition
  • Author(s): Sean Masaki Flynn
  • Release date: October 2023
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781394161331