About our author Michael Parkin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Economics at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Professor Parkin has held faculty appointments at Brown University, the University of Manchester, the University of Essex, and Bond University. He is a past president of the Canadian Economics Association and has served on the editorial boards of the American Economic Review and the Journal of Monetary Economics and as managing editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics.Professor Parkin's research on macroeconomics, monetary economics, and international economics has resulted in over 160 publications in journals and edited volumes, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Monetary Economics, and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. He became most visible to the public with his work on inflation that discredited the use of wage and price controls. Professor Parkin also spearheaded the movement toward European monetary union. Professor Parkin is an experienced and dedicated teacher of introductory economics.

• PART 1: INTRODUCTION What is Economics?The Economic ProblemPART 2: HOW MARKETS WORK Demand and SupplyElasticityEfficiency And EquityGovernment Actions in MarketsGlobal Markets in ActionPART 3: HOUSEHOLDS' CHOICES Utility and DemandPossibilities, Preferences, and ChoicesPART 4: FIRMS AND MARKETS Organizing ProductionOutput and CostsPerfect CompetitionMonopolyMonopolistic CompetitionOligopolyPART 5: MARKET FAILURE AND GOVERNMENT Public Choices, Public Goods, and HealthcareExternalitiesPART 6: FACTOR MARKETS, INEQUALITY, AND UNCERTAINTY Markets for Factors of ProductionEconomic InequalityUncertainty and InformationPART 7: MONITORING MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE Monitoring the Value of Production: GDPMonitoring Jobs and InflationPART 8: MACROECONOMIC TRENDS Economic GrowthFinance, Saving, and InvestmentMoney, the Price Level, and InflationThe Exchange Rate and the Balance of PaymentsPART 9: MACROECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS Aggregate Supply and Aggregate DemandExpenditure MultipliersThe Business Cycle, Inflation, and DeflationPART 10: MACROECONOMIC POLICY Fiscal PolicyMonetary Policy