Microeconomics For Dummies - UK (eBook)

Peter Antonioni is a senior teaching fellow at the Department of Management Science and Innovation, University College, London, and coauthor of Economics For Dummies, 2nd UK Edition. Manzur Rashid, PhD, is a lecturer at New College of the Humanities, where he covers second year micro- and macroeconomics.

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Started with Microeconomics 5

Chapter 1: Discovering Why Microeconomics Is a Big Deal 7

Chapter 2: Considering Consumer Choice: Why Economists Find You Fascinating! 17

Chapter 3: Looking at Firm Behaviour: What They Are and What They Do 31

Part II: Doing the Best You Can: Consumer Theory 43

Chapter 4: Living a Life without Limits 45

Chapter 5: Considering the Art of the Possible: The Budget Constraint 55

Chapter 6: Achieving the Optimum in Spite of Constraints 67

Part III: Uncovering the Alchemy of Firms' Inputs and Outputs 85

Chapter 7: Working with Different Costs and Cost Curves 87

Chapter 8: Squeezing Out Every Last Drop of Profit 105

Chapter 9: Supplying the Demanded Information on Supply and Demand 117

Chapter 10: Dreaming of the Consumer's Delight: Perfect Competition 137

Part IV: Delving into Markets, Market Failure and Welfare Economics 149

Chapter 11: Stepping into the Real World: Oligopoly and Imperfect Competition 151

Chapter 12: Appreciating the Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics 167

Chapter 13: Controlling Markets with a Monopoly 179

Chapter 14: Examining Market Failure: Pollution and Parks 197

Chapter 15: Understanding the Dangers of Asymmetric Information 209

Part V: Thinking Strategically: Life Is Just a Game! 219

Chapter 16: Playing Games with Economic Theory 221

Chapter 17: Keeping Things Stable: The Nash Equilibrium 239

Chapter 18: Knowing How to Win at Auctions 249

Chapter 19: Deciphering the Signals: Threats and Benefits 261

Part VI: The Part of Tens 271

Chapter 20: Meeting Ten Great Microeconomists 273

Chapter 21: Ten Top Tips to Take Away 281

Glossary 289

Index 295