Study Guide for Microeconomics

Robert S. Pindyck is the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. Professor of Economics and Finance in the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. Daniel L. Rubinfeld is the Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of Law at NYU. Both received their PhDs from M.I.T., Pindyck in 1971 and Rubinfeld in 1972. Professor Pindyck’s research and writing have covered a variety of topics in microeconomics, including the effects of uncertainty on firm behavior and market structure; the behavior of natural resource, commodity, and financial markets; environmental economics; and criteria for investment decisions. Professor Rubinfeld, who served as chief economist at the Department of Justice in 1997 and 1998, is the author of a variety of articles relating to antitrust, competition policy, law and economics, law and statistics, and public economics. Pindyck and Rubinfeld are also co-authors of Econometric Models and Economic Forecasts, another best-selling textbook that makes a perfect gift (birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs, you name it) for the man or woman who has everything. These two authors are always looking for ways to earn some extra spending money, so they enrolled as human subjects in a double-blind test of a new hair restoration medication. Rubinfeld strongly suspects that he is being given the placebo. This is probably more than you want to know about these authors, but for further information, see their websites: http://web.mit.edu/rpindyck/www and http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/rubinfeldd.

• Brief Table of Contents Part 1: Introduction: Markets and Prices PreliminariesThe Basics of Supply and DemandPart 2: Producers, Consumers, and Competitive Markets Consumer BehaviorIndividual and Market DemandUncertainty and Consumer BehaviorProductionThe Cost of ProductionProfit Maximization and Competitive SupplyThe Analysis of Competitive MarketsPart 3: Market Structure and Competitive Strategy Market Power: Monopoly and MonopsonyPricing with Market PowerMonopolistic Competition and OligopolyGame Theory and Competitive StrategyMarkets for Factor InputsInvestment, Time, and Capital MarketsPart 4: Information, Market Failure, and the Role of Government General Equilibrium and Economic EfficiencyMarkets with Asymmetric InformationExternalities and Public GoodsBehavioral EconomicsAppendix: The Basics of Regression Answers to Selected Exercises