This is presentation of some basic economic ideas for the beginning community college student.

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The text focuses throughout on evidence on the economy, from around the world, and from history. It is motivated by questions—how can we explain what we see? The method is to ask interesting questions first and then to introduce models that help to answer them. Standard tools such as constrained optimization are taught by showing how they give insight into real-world problems. Economics as a discipline is set in a social, political, and ethical context in which institutions matter.

CORE teaches students to be economists:

Start with a question, and look at the evidence.
Build a model that helps you understand what you see.
Critically evaluate the model: does it provide insight into the question, and explain the evidence?

Unit 1. The big questions about the economy
Units 2–3. Economic decision making
Units 4–6. Economic relationships and interactions
Units 7–10. Markets
Units 11–12. Market dynamics, how markets work and don’t work
Units 13–15. The aggregate economy in the short and medium run
Unit 16. The aggregate economy in the long run
Capstone units 17–22

Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused. The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Our goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Economics: The Study of Choice
Chapter 2: Confronting Scarcity: Choices in Production
Chapter 3: Demand and Supply
Chapter 4: Applications of Demand and Supply
Chapter 5: Macroeconomics: The Big Picture
Chapter 6: Measuring Total Output and Income
Chapter 7: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
Chapter 8: Economic Growth
Chapter 9: The Nature and Creation of Money
Chapter 10: Financial Markets and the Economy
Chapter 11: Monetary Policy and the Fed
Chapter 12: Government and Fiscal Policy
Chapter 13: Consumption and the Aggregate Expenditures Model
Chapter 14: Investment and Economic Activity
Chapter 15: Net Exports and International Finance
Chapter 16: Inflation and Unemployment
Chapter 17: A Brief History of Macroeconomic Thought and Policy
Chapter 18: Inequality, Poverty, and Discrimination
Chapter 19: Economic Development
Chapter 20: Socialist Economies in Transition

Principles of Macroeconomics 2e covers the scope and sequence of most introductory economics courses. The text includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts. The second edition has been thoroughly revised to increase clarity, update data and current event impacts, and incorporate the feedback from many reviewers and adopters.Changes made in Principles of Macroeconomics 2e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the second edition.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Analyze arguments against economic approaches to decision-makingInterpret a tradeoff diagramContrast normative statements and positive statements

In this Unit, you will learn about:How Individuals Make Choices Based on Their Budget ConstraintThe Production Possibilities Frontier and Social ChoicesConfronting Objections to the Economic Approach

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Discuss the importance of studying economicsExplain the relationship between production and division of laborEvaluate the significance of scarcity

What is economics and why should you spend your time learning it? After all, there are other disciplines you could be studying, and other ways you could be spending your time. As the Bring it Home feature just mentioned, making choices is at the heart of what economists study, and your decision to take this course is as much an economic decision as anything else.

Economics is probably not what you think it is. It is not primarily about money or finance. It is not primarily about business. It is not mathematics. What is it then? It is both a subject area and a way of viewing the world.