| ::Home Course Resources Principles of Microeconomics
The lectures and readings in this course are designed to
familiarize students with the fundamentals of microeconomic
theory. The central focus of the course is on understanding the
process of price formation in a free exchange economy. Market
institutions such as the firm, advertising, profit/loss mechanism,
speculation, and property rights are explored for their role in
the coordination of economic activity.
The book Principles of
Economics by Carl Menger can be found here.
In addition to the resources
below, another fine online resource is Robert J.
Stonebraker's book The
Joy of Economics: Making Sense out of Life. Whether
you're having trouble understanding the material and need another
perspective, or you just want a fun and entertaining approach to
microeconomics, I recommend Dr. Stonebraker's book.
(JM)
Principles
of Microeconomics by
James D. Miller
(TD)
How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas J.
DiLorenzo
Lesson 1: Introduction
Leonard E. Read, I,
Pencil (class handout)
(JM)
Chapter 1
(TD) Introduction
Additional Optional Reading:
Robert Hessen, Capitalism
Robert Heilbroner, Socialism
Lesson 2: Early Economic
Thought
(TD) Chapter 1
Lesson 3: Supply
and Demand
(JM) Chapter
2
(TD) Chapter 3
Additional Optional Reading:
Carl Menger, Principles
of Economics, Chapters 1-5
Lesson 4: Comparative Statics
(JM) Chapters
3, 4, and 6 (pp. 144-148)
(TD) Chapter 4
Lesson 5:
Price Controls
Video: Price
Gouging is Bad. Myth or Fact?
(JM) Chapter 5 and 6 (pp.
149-151)
(TD) Chapter 11
Additional Optional Reading:
Thomas Rustici, A
Public Choice View of the Minimum Wage (PDF)
Hugh Rockoff, Price
Controls
Walter Block, Rent
Control
Donald Deere, Kevin M. Murphy, and Finis Welch, Sense and Nonsense on the Minimum Wage
Joint Economic Committee, 50
Years of Research on the Minimum Wage
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Characteristics
of Minimum Wage Workers
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table
A-2 (class handout)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPS AA, Table
44 (PDF)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPS AA, Table
45 (PDF)
Leonard, Thomas C., Retrospectives:
Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era (PDF)
Lesson 6: Trade
Video: 20/20
Aren't Sweatshops Exploitative?
(JM) Chapter 7
(TD) Chapter 5
Additional Optional Reading:
Frederic Bastiat, A
Petition
Russell Roberts, Treasure Island: The Power of Trade (Part
I, Part
II)
David Ricardo, On
Foreign Trade
Lesson 7: The Business Firm
(JM) Chapter 11
(pp. 278-283)
(TD) Chapter 7
Lesson 8: Costs
(JM)
Chapter 8
Lesson 9: Income
(JM)
Chapter 6
(TD) Chapter 6
Additional Optional Reading:
S. David Young, Occupational
Licensing
Morgan O. Reynolds, Labor
Unions
W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, By
Our Own Bootstraps (PDF)
W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, You
Are What You Spend
Re-Thinking Inequality Trends (class handout)
Lesson 10: Competition
(JM) Chapters 9
and 10
(TD) Chapter 8
Additional Optional Reading:
Fred S. McChesney, Antitrust
Lesson 11: Transaction Costs
(JM)
Chapter 13
Additional Optional Reading:
George Bittlingmayer, Advertising
Daniel B. Klein and Alexander Tabarrok, Theory,
Evidence, and Examples of FDA Harm
Class Handouts from The Economist magazine
Richard L. Stroup, Environmentalism,
Free Market
Biography of Ronald H. Coase
Armen A. Alchian, Property
Rights
Lesson 12:
Public Choice
(JM)
Chapter 12
(TD) Conclusion
Additional Optional Reading:
Jane S. Shaw, Public
Choice Theory
Tyler Cowen, Public
Goods and Externalities
The
Declaration of Independence
The
Constitution of the United States of America
Federalist
No. 10
Federalist
No. 51
Golden
Fleece Awards
Frederic Bastiat, What
Is Seen and What Is Not Seen
| 
