Economics For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Find the latest on economics

The economy is always changing but some things are eternal! Economics For Dummies, Third Edition, gives you everything you need to understand our rapidly evolving economy as well as the basics that never change.  What’s the best way to fight poverty? How can governments boost employment and wage growth?  What can be done to protect endangered species and the environment?

This book answers all of those questions in simple language while tracking with a traditional introductory economics class. Following in the steps of the first and second editions, the thoroughly updated Third Edition is a useful study guide and supplement to any high school or college level economics class.

• Discover the ins and outs of irrational consumers with a new chapter on behavioral economics
• Understand and apply the most powerful tool in economics: the model of supply and demand
• Get help recognizing the causes of recessions and the weapons that governments and central banks use to fight back
• Understand the origins and aftermath of financial crises

Economics For Dummies has supplied hundreds of thousands of students with an approachable reference book while also providing an informational outlet for anyone curious about how businesses, consumers, and governments interact to produce and distribute all the goods and services that we enjoy today.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity
Chapter 1: What Economics Is and Why You Should Care
Chapter 2: Cookies or Ice Cream? Exploring Consumer Choices
Chapter 3: Producing Stuff to Maximize Happiness

Part 2: Microeconomics: The Science of Consumer and Firm Behavior
Chapter 4: Supply and Demand Made Easy
Chapter 5: Introducing Homo Economicus, the Utility-Maximizing Consumer
Chapter 6: The Core of Capitalism: The Profit-Maximizing Firm
Chapter 7: Why Economists Love Free Markets and Competition
Chapter 8: Monopolies: Bad Behavior without Competition
Chapter 9: Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Middle Grounds

Part 3: Applying the Theories of Microeconomics
Chapter 10: Property Rights and Wrongs
Chapter 11: Asymmetric Information and Public Goods
Chapter 12: Health Economics and Healthcare Finance
Chapter 13: Behavioral Economics: Investigating Irrationality

Part 4: Macroeconomics: The Science of Economic Growth and Stability
Chapter 14: How Economists Measure the Macroeconomy
Chapter 15: Inflation Frustration: Why More Money Isn’t Always Good
Chapter 16: Understanding Why Recessions Happen
Chapter 17: Fighting Recessions with Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Chapter 18: Grasping Origins and Effects of Financial Crises

Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 19: Ten Seductive Economic Fallacies
Chapter 20: Ten Economic Ideas to Hold Dear
Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Famous Economists