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An informal economics textbook. Read the essays, share them with students, or link to them.
When I taught price theory, I taught various versions of this material. It all pushes the idea of equilibrium as a way of capturing market forces, a primitive but often powerful way of getting at emergent order, the deepest and subtlest idea in economics.
If you are a teacher, please encourage your students to use these. If you are a student, these may help you understand micro. There is no charge other than your time.
Each essay has its own web page to link from a syllabus or course page, and a free PDF to print or post. See all eight at a glance.
An introduction to supply and demand, the core tools of price theory and a first look at equilibrium and emergent order.
The most common mistakes students make when applying supply and demand, and how to avoid them.
Using supply and demand to understand real-world markets, prices, shortages, and policy.
How prices coordinate the plans of millions of strangers and put dispersed knowledge to work.
How firms decide what and how much to produce, and where costs, revenue, and profit fit in.
How consumers make choices, and how those choices add up to the demand curve.
Consumer surplus, producer surplus, and what economists mean by efficiency.
What tariffs and quotas really do to prices, quantities, and who wins and loses.
| Essay | Covers | Free PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Supply and Demand: An Introduction | Supply and demand, Market equilibrium, Price elasticity of demand | |
| Common Mistakes Using Supply and Demand | Supply and demand, Shifts in demand and supply curves | |
| Applications of Supply and Demand | Supply and demand, Price ceilings, Price floors, Taxation | |
| How Markets Use Knowledge | Price system, Knowledge problem, Emergent order | |
| The Theory of the Firm | Theory of the firm, Profit maximization, Marginal cost | |
| Theory of the Consumer | Consumer theory, Indifference curves, Budget constraint, Income and substitution effects | |
| Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus and Efficiency | Consumer surplus, Producer surplus, Economic efficiency | |
| The Economics of Tariffs and Quotas | Tariffs, Import quotas, International trade |
