Economics : the basics / Michael J. Mandel

Includes index.

Introduction
Demand and supply : the basics of the market economy
Market equilibrium and shifts
How businesses work
Competition and market power
Government and the economy
The first step into macroeconomics
Inflation
Growth
Business cycles, unemployment, and inflation
FIscal policy
The financial markets
The international trade
Technological change
Economics of the labor market
The distribution of income
Delving deeper into microeconomics
Delving deeper into macroeconomics
Economics of retirement and health care
Economics of energy, the environment, and global climate change

This textbook presents the basics of economics with the intention of developing students' economic literacy and focusing on translating economics into an easily understood language. Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In addition to presenting the basic tools of economics, this volume covers the fundamentals of the markets and the 21st century global market economy. In a market, buyers and sellers come together -- not necessarily in the same place -- to voluntarily exchange goods and services for money. The author also demonstrates the ways in which the possibilities of today's economy are expanding. He explains why businesses are limited in what they can produce by technology and by their past investments in factories, processes, and materials and why whole countries remain poor and thus limited in their economic capabilities

eng.