{"data":[{"id":19,"title":"International Trade: Theory and Policy","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2010,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"International Trade: Theory and Policy is built on Steve Suranovic's belief that to understand the international economy, students need to learn how economic models are applied to real world problems. It is true what they say, that ”economists do it with models.“ That's because economic models provide insights about the world that are simply not obtainable solely by discussion of the issues. International Trade: Theory and Policy presents a variety of international trade models including the Ricardian model, the Heckscher-Ohlin model, and the monopolistic competition model. It includes trade policy analysis in both perfectly competitive and imperfectly competitive markets. The text also addresses current issues such as free trade area formation and administered protection policies. The models are developed, not by employing advanced mathematics, but rather by walking students through a detailed description of how a model's assumptions influence its conclusions. But more importantly, each model and theory is connected to real world policy issues. The main purpose of the text is to provide a thorough grounding in the arguments concerning the age-old debate about free trade versus protectionism. This text has the following unique features: The text begins with an historical overview of trade policy issues to provide context for the theory. The text concludes with a detailed economic argument supporting free trade.The welfare analysis in the Ricardian, Heckscher-Ohlin and specific factors models emphasize the redistributive effects of free trade by calculating changes in real incomes.The trade policy chapter provides a comprehensive look at many more trade policies than are found in a printed textbook. A chapter about domestic policies contains an evaluation of domestic taxes and subsidies that are often ignored in traditional trade textbooks but are increasingly important as large countries complain more about each other's domestic agriculture policies and labor and environmental policies. The text uses the theory of the second-best to explain why protection can improve national welfare. This well-known theoretical result is rarely presented as methodically and consistently as it is in this text. International Trade: Theory and Policy by Steve Suranovic is intended for a one-semester course in International Trade. After April 2010, you can check out the entire book online or request a desk copy.","contributors":[{"id":2381,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steve","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Suranovic","location":"George Washington University","background_text":"Steve Suranovic is an associate professor of economics and international affairs at the George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC. He has a PhD in economics from Cornell University and a BS in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been teaching international trade and finance for more than twenty years at GW and as an adjunct for Cornell University’s Washington, DC, program. In fall 2002, he taught at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, as a visiting Fulbright lecturer. He has taught a GW class at Fudan University in Shanghai during the summers of 2009 and 2010. He has also spoken to business, government, and academic audiences in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, and Mongolia as part of the U.S. State Department speaker’s programs. His research focuses on two areas: international trade policy and behavioral economics. With respect to behavior, he examines why people choose to do things that many observers view as irrational. Examples include addiction to cigarettes, cyclical dieting, and anorexia. His research shows that dangerous behaviors can be explained as the outcome of a reasoned and rational optimization exercise. With respect to trade policy, his research seeks to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of arguments supporting various policy options. The goal is to answer the question, what trade policies should a country implement? More generally, he applies the economic analytical method to identify the policies that can attract the most widespread support. His book A Moderate Compromise: Economic Policy Choice in an Era of Globalization will be released by Palgrave Macmillan in fall 2010. In it he offers a critique of current methods to evaluate and choose policies and suggests a simple, principled, and moderate alternative."}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":69,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/International%20Trade%20-%20Theory%20and%20Policy.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":268,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/International%20Trade%20-%20Theory%20and%20Policy.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":269,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_international-trade-theory-and-policy/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":3,"reviews":[{"id":1037,"first_name":"Tom","last_name":"Head","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"George Fox University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book provides an exhaustive review of key ideas in the economics of international trade. It does not offer an index or glossary, and both would be useful. Reading the book as a pdf I was able to use the search function as a substitute for an index; for example, I wanted to review the author's discussion of Paul Krugman's contributions to contemporary trade theory and found all references to Krugman's work by searching for his name.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is a basic and standard presentation of key elements in the theory of economic trade, and as such, it offers an accurate survey of this thought.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"With respect to trade theory itself, the book is sufficiently up-to-date. However, with respect to the few chapters, largely at the beginning and end of the book, that deal with the political economy of international trade and with trade negotiations, it would be desirable to provide a fuller, more updated discussion. For example, there is only one brief mention of TPP. Discussing the TPP, the ASEAN countries, trade debates within the US, EU, etc. would be a key contribution of a new, updated edition.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is clearly written with a large array of graphs and numerical examples. While quantitative, it is not excessively so, and the reader does not have to use calculus to comprehend the book's presentations.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent throughout, both in form and content.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book's chapters provide a logical structure, and within each chapter the subsections are well organized.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Yes, the structure and flow are logical and clear.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Generally good. In some chapters there are a number of hot links to sources. Most of these are still working, but a few did not and need updating. Also, such reference links could be used more extensively and consistently throughout the book, and this would be an enhancement.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No issues.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"This is largely a book of economic theory and its application to trade topics. As such, it is largely acultural, not being especially sensitive or unsensitive to cultural matters. There are many cultural issues that one could delve into with respect to topics in international economics and globalization; however, those are the topics of this book.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"An instructor's manual would be helpful, as would a second edition in the not too distant future.","created_at":"2017-02-15T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-15T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1497,"first_name":"Elizabeth","last_name":"Perry-Sizemore","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Randolph College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I reviewed Version 1.0 of this text in online format in 2017. \n\nThe content coverage is appropriate for a one semester international trade course. There is no index or glossary, but the  reader can hover the cursor over key terms that appear in bold for definitions.  The text also has links to related sources and further reading. Chapters 5 and 7 are among the strongest in terms of both clarity and depth.  The section-end problems more often assess a student's ability to recall information than apply or critically evaluate it. One way to improve the text is to develop more problems relating to higher level learning outcomes.","accuracy_rating":2,"accuracy_review":"The author thoughtfully acknowledges different perspectives on the debates surrounding free trade and protectionism, and does so across chapters rather than relegating the discussion to a single chapter. The author is also careful and consistent throughout the text in identifying both the strengths and limitations of the models presented.\n\nEquations-within text and tables- need thorough editing.  The use of subscripts is inconsistent and therefore confusing, and in a small number of places there are errors in equations.  My sense is that most or all of this a formatting issue. (I can readily discern what the author intends and it is correct.) In the preface, the author expresses interest in alienating neither PhD-bound economics students nor non-economists for whom the course is required or of interest.  I do not believe this goal can be fully realized without tending to the problems in the equations.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"The book's general content is of lasting relevance.  Earlier chapters rely on data from 2009 and should be updated with more recent data.  Most links to other sources are still functioning and accurate.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Other than my aforementioned concern about the equations, the text is well-ordered and clear.  Each chapter sub-section has clearly identified learning objectives to which the end-of-section \"Key Takeaways\" specifically relate.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"On the whole, the text is consistent.  At times, some topics (for instance, H-O) are referred to before they are fully explained, but most of the time links to the sections addressing them are provided.  Occasionally discussion of building-block components of models seems unbalanced. For instance, the notion of a PPF is introduced from the bottom-up while student understanding of indifference curves seems to be assumed.  The latter is less likely to be covered in a prerequisite course than the former.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This text seems relatively easy to break into discrete sections.  When it is self-referential, it seems to be with good reason.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The content is presented in a logical fashion both within and across chapters.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"It is easy to navigate this text.  Source links, key terms, and table links are helpful and for the most part well-functioning and free from error.  Tables and figures were undistorted, although as previously mentioned errors in equations complicate the reader's ability to understand certain material.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is grammatically correct.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"A frequent criticism I have of economics textbooks is the tendency to overuse the US as an example country, whether in a 1-country or 2-country example.  Another common criticism I have is the tendency to overuse he/him/his pronouns.  A third is associating men with certain occupations and women with others. I am hopeful that future versions of this text might differentiate it from other texts in regard to this concern.","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2017-08-15T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-08-15T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2217,"first_name":"Scott","last_name":"Ratner","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"City University of New York","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book is very well structured and comprehensive, with succinct definitions of key terms and poignant examples of the text substance. Examples of trade come primarily from the developed world, and comparatively little from the developing world is referenced. Well-rounded exercises and explanations are provided, and the sections on mathematical models and quantitative analysis are presented in a clear and concise manner.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not come across any factual errors or biased representation of the material.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"That the majority of examples of free trade agreements across the globe that the book references are well-established rather than recent, it is unlikely that the text will be obsolete in coming years. Changes, such as the enactment of new major trade deals or international trade guidelines and agreements, will be easy to insert into copies of the text in coming years.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in a very clear and lucid manner, and the jargon and technical terminology is presented in a reader friendly manner that is accessible to students new and unfamiliar with the topic.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"There is no problem with the internal consistency of any sections of the book.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text is very easy and readily divisible into smaller sections that can be assigned at different points within the course. Moreover, it can be easily reorganized and realigned with various sub units of a course without presenting the reader with too much disruption,","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics of the text are presented thematically with little overlap. More over, the topics are organized in a coherent and logic manner.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The charts and graphs of the book sometime cover more than one page, which at times distorts them and renders it difficult to follow them. It is also somewhat distracting. However, this issue does not detract from the overall quality of the text or present too much confusion to the reader.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not come across any grammatical errors in the book.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Although the book is somewhat western centric in the examples it gives, it does not do so in a way that a multicultural audience would find either offensive or exclusionary. That being said, more examples relevant to the developing, non-western world would enhance the analytical depth and relevance of the book to a non-western readership.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/international-trade-theory-and-policy","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:52.000-06:00"},{"id":28,"title":"Microeconomics: Theory Through Applications","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2011,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Russell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You're thinking, ”Yeah, sure. I've heard that before.“ This textbook, Microeconomics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem. Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students' economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know. How? Russell and Andrew have done three things in this text to accomplish that goal: 1. Applications Ahead of Theory: They present all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed. The authors take the kind of material that other authors put in ”applications boxes“ and place it at the heart of their book. Each chapter is built around a particular business or policy application, such as minimum wages, the stock exchange, and auctions. Why take this approach? Traditional courses focus too much on abstract theory relative to the interests and capabilities of the average undergraduate. Students are rarely engaged and the formal theory is never integrated into the way students think about economic issues. And traditional books are organized around theoretical constructs that mean nothing to students. The authors' applications-first approach ensures that students will not see chapters with titles like ”Cost Functions“ or ”Short-Run Fluctuations“. They introduce tools and ideas as and when they are needed. Each chapter is designed with two goals. First, the application upon which the chapter is built provides a ”hook“ that gets students' attention. Second, the application is a suitable vehicle a vehicle for teaching the principles of economics. 2. Learning through Repetition: Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts. Each piece of economic theory in this text is first introduced and explained in the context of a specific application. Most are re-used in other chapters, so students see them in action on multiple occasions. As students progress through the book, they accumulate a set of techniques and ideas. These are collected separately in a ”toolkit“ that provides students with an easy reference and also gives them a condensed summary of economic principles for examination preparation. 3. A Student's Table of Contents vs. An Instructor's Table of Contents: There is no further proof that Russell and Andrew have created a book aimed specifically at educating students about economics than their two tables of contents. The Student's Table of Contents speaks to students, piquing their interest to involve them in the economics, and a Instructor's Table of Contents with the economics to better help you organize your teaching—and frankly, you don't need to get excited by economics, you already are.","contributors":[{"id":1963,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Russell","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Cooper","location":"European University Institute","background_text":"Dr. Russell Cooper is a professor of economics at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He has held positions at the University of Texas, Boston University, the University of Iowa, and Yale University as well as numerous visiting positions in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. He has taught principles of economics at many of these universities as well as numerous courses to PhD students. Cooper’s research has focused on macroeconomics, labor economics, monetary policy, and industrial organization. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. He was elected Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1997."},{"id":1964,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Andrew","middle_name":null,"last_name":"John","location":"Melbourne Business School","background_text":"Andrew John is an associate professor of economics at Melbourne Business School, Melbourne, Australia. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, in 1981 and his PhD in economics from Yale University in 1988. He has held academic appointments at Michigan State University, the University of Virginia, and INSEAD. He has also held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan, the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, and the University of Texas at Austin. He joined Melbourne Business School in January 2009. Andrew has consulting experience in the areas of marketing, economics, and strategy. He has worked with clients in Australia, Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has also worked with firms in the consumer goods and consulting sectors. Andrew has taught economics to undergraduates, PhD students, MBA students, and executives. His research interests include state-dependent pricing models, environmental economics, coordination games, and consumer boycotts. His published research has appeared in top economics and business journals, including American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Management Science, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Marketing. His work is widely cited in economics journals."}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":34,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Microeconomics%20-%20Theory%20Through%20Applications.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":286,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Microeconomics%20-%20Theory%20Through%20Applications.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":287,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_microeconomics-theory-through-applications/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":4,"reviews":[{"id":82,"first_name":"John","last_name":"Brouwer","position":"Principal","institution_name":"Eton College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all the areas and ideas of Macroeconomics that one would expect to find at the introductory level. The subjects are clear, easy to follow, relevant with applied examples. Global examples are used through the lens of US laws and economics.\n\nNo index or glossary was provided with the version that was reviewed.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Text is accurate, error-free, but does have a bias towards US law and economics. Many of the case studies are global in origin, which are excellent, however, the authors always return to the effects towards the US, or if a US case study is examined there is very little mention of the effect towards the Canadian economy.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The content is up to date and should constantly be up dated to truly connect the student to the learning objectives as they effect the global economies of today. Generally the text will not become obsolete in a short period of time yet the authors will need to either update the data within the text or provide updated links to the already numerous web sites referred to within the text. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The authors use a story telling format that is easy to read and comprehend. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terminology and framework. The early chapters are well setup providing foundational information for the each of the subsequent chapters. Each chapter progressively provides the learner with more challenging concepts, language, an","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text builds upon each chapter that provides effective information to the reader to continue. There are many reading sections with each followed by \"Key Takeaway\" statements and \"Checking Your Understanding\" questions. It may be difficult for those not familiar with economic concepts to not read the chapters sequentially. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Story telling format; the reader is provided with fundamental economic realities in the world using examples that are relevant to people in general. The foundational concepts are discussed before the math and graphs are introduced hence the reader has already seen the \"what's in it for me\" reality.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"No problems were found.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"None were found.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text does not appear to be insensitive or offensive in any way. As the text is focused to US learners, students from other countries, such as Canada, may not feel that this is relevant to their history, or future.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The text is well laid out as is the content but the text should be entitled: Macroeconomics: Theory in Application from a US Perspective.\n\nWeb links worked as did page reference links (there was a request to register to Flatworldknowledge.com which I did not do).\n\nThe international examples are excellent for any student to use.\n\nOverall the text would be excellent if there was a considerable amount of Canadian content added. The reason for this is that while economic policies appear to be similar between Canada and the USA, the decision making is different.","created_at":"2013-10-09T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2013-10-09T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1755,"first_name":"Dawn","last_name":"Renninger","position":"Instructor of Economics","institution_name":"Pennsylvania State University ","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"There are several key concepts only briefly discussed in this text, which is sufficient for those who are completing a basic survey course or as a supplement to a concept based text.  The examples are relevant to student decision making and effectively lead students to a higher understanding of life application economics. While the author ensures math concepts/vocabulary are included in the explanation, at times, it over shadows the economic concepts taught. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Economic content is accurate and vocabulary is bold and defined in the reading.  Promoting a certain company is avoided by using generic terms such as \"chocolate bar\" or \"CD\".  When teaching assets the author uses a basic orange tree instead of a brand specific asset.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"If used as a supplement, this text would stand the test of time.  The examples are generic and products discussed are mainstream.  For example, a chocolate bar is not going to become obsolete and McDonalds will stay in business for future years.  On the other hand, an instructor would want to double check figures used such as calculations for minimum wage in case minimum wage changes in the future.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The author intertwines the math jargon with the economic concepts.  For a struggling math student, this approach may turn the student against learning economics or lead them to believe they can not learn economics.  If the author first spent time explaining the psychology of the decision or the economics of the decision, students could grasp material quicker.  ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of terminology and the framework.  Students can easily following the pattern from one chapter to the next which allows them to focus on the learning the material instead of finding the materiaI.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"Easy stopping points that encourage understanding rarely exist.  For full understanding the reader needs each part of the chapter. Fortunately, most chapters are not overly long.","organization_rating":2,"organization_review":"Some chapters should be re-titled and each author should assess the chapters they would like to use.  There are gaps in the economic  learning process that need to be filled for better student understanding.  ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Charts, graphs, and images are clear and easily understood.  Not one navigation problem was discovered by this reader.  This is a strength in this text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammar errors were found but instructors may need to clarify some money symbols.  This is not an error by the author simply a lack of knowledge for some students. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This book is very generic.  I was hard pressed to find a race or ethnicity that was mentioned. In the chapters observed and read entirely, backgrounds were rarely, if ever, mentioned.  Even minimum wage was discussed without descriptions of background or race.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"This book would be great for those instructors who have time to read, dissect, and add to the material presented.  As a whole, it has holes in the economic process learned in a Beginning microeconomics course.","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":3401,"first_name":"Liz","last_name":"Perry-Sizemore","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Randolph College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text covers the expected topics in a microeconomics principles course in a refreshing way—by presenting problems, questions, and observations relatable to students and then introducing them to the ways economists explore them.  Relative to other introductory microeconomics texts, this one is a bit lighter on production theory and a bit richer other topics, including risk, uncertainty, the stock market, and income inequality.  The text introduces budget constraints before introducing demand curves. This is done with no mention of indifference curves, but it seems the authors’ approach might still succeed in tapping into and growing students’ economic intuition. There is suitable coverage of market structures; this presentation is peppered throughout multiple chapters and reads less sequentially than texts that move systematically from discussions of perfect competition to other structures by adjusting assumptions.\r\n\r\nThis text does a thoughtful job of introducing students to ways psychology and behavioral finance are influencing the discipline, and incorporates accessible summaries of peer-reviewed research.\r\nThe text does not have an index or glossary, but it does use italics to introduce terminology. The last chapter is a useful “toolkit” that readers are regularly referred to throughout the text.  This section reiterates and embellishes on tools introduced in one chapter and used in others.  \r\n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The text is unbiased and thoughtful in explaining a range of perspectives from the discipline and even how and why economists disagree.  \r\n\r\nThe PDF version of the text has errors I did not see in the online version. I have experienced this with other OERs—there seem to be formatting issues with converting to a PDF that in the case of economics texts do in fact compromise the content.  Specifically, equations (especially in this case those that involve division) do not display correctly. Word spacing issues are a lesser concern.  One could encourage students to use the online version, but the PDF option allows more flexibility which is helpful to students with limited access to the internet.  It would be nice if PDFs were more carefully edited before being posted.\r\n","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"This text is current and uses product examples and names many students will recognize and identify with. With that said, it should be periodically reviewed for possible updating, the level of difficulty of which will vary by chapter.  ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is accessible and clear.  Some students may find it equation-heavy at times, but it is suitable for the level of the course and desired emphasis on the math can be determined  by the professor and managed in class.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Each chapter has several short sections.  A professor could pick and choose chapters and even sections within chapters to cover.  The authors’ nontraditional approach to presentation does make the text self-referential in places, but their inclusion of a toolkit lessens the challenges of this for the professor and the student.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"The flow is logical, yet quite different from other principles texts.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"In the online version, some links to the Toolkit don’t work.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is well-edited for grammar.  ","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text uses examples from various countries and cultures, although most country-focused examples center around the U.S. Many examples are presented with the reader as the individual facing an economic challenge or circumstance (rather than named characters). ","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2019-12-19T10:41:14.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-12-19T10:41:14.000-06:00"},{"id":3437,"first_name":"Eric","last_name":"Dodge","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Hanover College","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text does cover the usual areas in a Principles of Microeconomics course, however, I don't see an effective index or glossary in the PDF version.  It would be helpful if the table of contents included sub-sections under each chapter title.  I do like the concept of the \"toolkit\" at the end of the text as a useful resource for students. There is a large color-coded table at the top of the toolkit, but in the PDF version is appears to be cut off at the right margin.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"Perhaps this is the result of converting the text to PDF, but many formulas do not display correctly.  For example, in many cases, a division sign \"/\" is absent.  In the HTML version, many formulas don't even appear (my browser is Google Chrome) and links to the toolkit, or to a figure in a different part of the book, don't work. Students often struggle with the mathematics of economics and having to correct most of the formulas would be very frustrating. I also found more content errors than I am comfortable with. For example, there is an equation on page 106 that is missing the word \"real\", which is a critical omission in that context. Table 4.1 appears to have missing values. Figure 6.4, and many other instances in Chapter 6, use \"demand\" when \"quantity demand\" would be more accurate. The appendix to Chapter 7 is nice, but the explanation of constants in the supply equation is actually repetition of the demand equation.  ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This edition of the text is already a few years old, but examples using eBay and craigslist are still relevant. There was an example of demand for Detroit Tigers merchandise that is already irrelevant to anyone but the Tigers fanbase.  I like the use of real-world data, but these examples would need to be constantly updated as new data is produced.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is very clearly written, although there were some sections that bogged down so much that I would probably not assign them.  Examples of these sections include 4.2 and 4.3 and 5.2.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent, but might have areas of unnecessary duplication. For example, section 5.1 does a good job of explaining consumer and producer (although the authors call them buyer and seller) surplus concepts.  And section 7.3 seems to cover much of what was covered in 5.3.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I think the subsections of chapters could be reorganized fairly easily to create smaller reading sections or to structure the course to align with an instructor's preferred outline of topics.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"This text does not follow the standard pedagogical outline for a typical principles course and might deter faculty from adopting it.  For example, utility maximization is the foundation for why consumers behave as they do.  Diminishing marginal utility is the reason demand curves are downward sloping, yet this isn't found anywhere in the text. Section 3.1 has a nice presentation about consumer preferences, but without the inclusion of the idea of utility, it seems incomplete and disconnected to demand.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Formulas that don't display correctly, links that don't work, and the toolkit table being cut off are real problems.  Also, Chapter 13 refers to Figure 13.5 but I don't think that figure is displayed anywhere in Chapter 13.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were not major grammatical issues, though there are places (a couple of which are noted above) where there were copy and paste errors or missing words.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"There were many nice examples of markets and events that give the text a more international feel than a typical economics book.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"The material at the end of each chapter is a strength of the text.  I really like the traditional exercises, plus the Economics Detective and Spreadsheet exercises really set it apart.","created_at":"2019-12-29T16:15:30.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-12-29T16:15:30.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/microeconomics-theory-through-applications","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:54.000-06:00"},{"id":32,"title":"Principles of Economics","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2016,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"This book is intended for a two-semester course in Economics taught out of the social sciences or business school. Principles of Economics aims to teach considerable range and depth of Economic concepts through an approachable style and methodology. The authors take a three-pronged approach to every chapter: The concept is covered with a “Heads Up” to ward off confusion, a real-world application for that concept, and a “You Try It” section to make sure students are staying on top of the concept.","contributors":[],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"},{"id":9,"name":"Social Sciences","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"H1","visible_textbooks_count":285,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences"}],"publishers":[{"id":182,"url":"https://www.lib.umn.edu/publishing","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing"}],"formats":[{"id":349,"type":"Online","url":"https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Economics/Principles_of_Economics_(LibreTexts)","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1713,"type":"PDF","url":"https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Economics/Principles_of_Economics_(LibreTexts)","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1714,"type":"eBook","url":"http://open.lib.umn.edu/principleseconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2238,"type":"XML","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/principleseconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2239,"type":"ODF","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/principleseconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":7,"reviews":[{"id":392,"first_name":"Choikam","last_name":"Yip","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"Portland Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook is very comprehensiveness. It covers almost all the major topics in mainstream micro and macroeconomic studies. The examples and data used are very current and up-to-date.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is accurate in terminology, concept, model, graphing, and wording.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The authors are using \"big\" and on-going economic issues in the illustration, explanation, and case in point. This makes the study of the concept very relevant to real world experience. Since those are important on-going economic issues in our economy, the longevity of the content will last and is easy to update with relevant information and data.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Terminologies are defined in easy understandable language/wording. Concepts are explained with examples and illustrations. Graphs are using grid-lines and arrows to show the effect of it and are easy to follow and understand.\nOverall, the book is very clear and precise.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"All chapters are using the same format. Terminologies, concepts, and graphs are consistently applied and moved on from one chapter to another chapter.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"1. I found that the display in HTML version is a bit different from the PDF file. HTML has more space between paragraphs and sections whilst PDF file does not have space. The HTML format is better and easy to read.\n2. Inside each chapter, it has the section numbers which are missing in the Table of  Contents. For example, in chapter 1, \"Defining Economics\" is section 1.1.  It would be better to put back the section number 1.1 in the Table of Content as well.\nOther than the above, the text in each chapter has good sections and sub-units.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical and clear fashion. The organization/structure/flow are consistent and coherent.\nAll chapters are organized in the same format by using colored text box, heading and sub-heading, highlighted text, and bullet point. Easy to read and follow.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"1. As I have mentioned in 6 above, the PDF file does not space out appropriately and makes it hard to navigate through the text and go back to find text.\n2. The Table of Contents should include section number for each chapter. \n3. The Table of Contents should be divided into Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.\n4. There is no glossary and index list at the end of the book.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I can't any grammatical error.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The authors are cultural sensitive and relevance. They are using lots of different quotes to back up their points without prejudice or bias. Different countries' cultural and economic issues are discussed and included in its content.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"More Try It Problems would be better. For example, provide more Try It calculation on Elasticities, Costs of Production, etc., and provide answers and explanations.\nI wonder if the book comes with test bank and quiz/exam paper generation tool for the instructor? That would be great!","created_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":415,"first_name":"Bill","last_name":"Burrows","position":"Economics Instructor","institution_name":"Lane Community College, Eugene,OR","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Being a product of the Pleistocene epoch, I sometimes don't trust my online navigation skills.   That said, after repeated attempts, I was unable to locate a glossary or index for this otherwise fine text. Assuming they don't exist, their absence is certainly not a deal-breaker. In my long and labored experience, nearly all college principles of economics texts really are pretty much interchangeable in terms of providing basic content. They are obligated to cover these basics if they intend to be even moderately useful. This text provides solid, competent, confident coverage of all the rudiments in a clear, useful, and even fun manner: Scarcity, Choice, Supply and Demand, Elasticity, Costs of Production, Market Structures, Aggregate Supply \u0026amp; Demand, Money \u0026amp; Banking, Blah, Blah, Blah.  You get the idea. The chapter on Socialist Economies in Transition was an interesting and welcome addition to the usual list of topics.  Another absolutely wonderful thing the text did was to address the students with respect.  Specifically, the authors recognized and acknowledged that the vast majority of students in college are there to gain knowledge and/or a degree that will help them provide for themselves and their families (present or future). Few texts in any discipline make even vague reference  to what should be an obvious reality of their end customers' worlds.  Most college texts authors ignore such tawdry issues out of a misplaced concern for sullying the purity of their disciplines with such pedestrian and base concerns. Also, I suspect, many of them are annoyed by the realization that what they teach (or how they teach) is of little practical value.  Whoa! Where-the-heck did all THAT come from?!? Apparently someone's little \"soapbox\" button got pushed.  Meanwhile, back to the topic at hand:  Libby Rittenberg \u0026amp; Timothy Tregarthen are rare and refreshing exceptions to the norm. They go on at length about Careers in Economics, Application of Economics to Other Fields, LSAT Scores and Undergraduate Majors (Economics majors rank quite well), and Starting Salaries of Economists vs other Professionals (again, not-so-bad). If they had been in the room as I read these sections, I would have kissed them squarely on the lips.\n\n\n","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Okay, I'll try to curb myself a bit and not run on quite so much with this response. As I read through the text (no, I didn't read every page, but I did read quite a bit; samplings from nearly every chapter), I wasn't once struck by an obvious inaccuracy or biased presentation of concepts and material. I haven't always had that impression when reading texts, economics or otherwise. Krugman's springs to mind. These folks did an admirable job of fairly and evenhandedly compelling students to understand far reaching ramifications and consequences of topics such as the unavoidable reality (sometimes unpleasant) of having limited choices, how not \"black-and-white\" antitrust policies can be in a complex world of international economies, the economics of environmentalism, causes and remedies for income inequality, poverty, and discrimination, and other hot-button issues.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"References are made to relatively current topics such as the great recession and its ongoing and potent relevance to the future of the economies of the U.S. and the world in general. Events of this magnitude and scope will certainly remain relevant for some time to come even as they transition from a current event to an important historic lesson (think, \"The Great Depression\"). Likewise, investigations into the inner goings on of present-day socialist economies  will likely be of interest as they continue their unprecedented morphication (?) into Lord knows what. I could be wrong (often am, ask the wife), but the authors of this text leave me with the impression that they will be responsible stewards of their OER text.  The phrase, \"labor of love\" springs to mind.  I see ongoing updates in this book's future.  I am rating the text as a 4 rather than 5 only because, as economists are painfully aware, the future is a shimmering, unfocused phenomenon. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Let's face it, when preparing for a relaxed evening in front of a warm, crackling fire, hot  Belgian  cocoa in hand, and trusty canine underfoot, few would pull a love-worn economics text off the carved mahogany bookshelf (I'm painting a picture here) as an appealing choice for the evening's read. It is a sad reality that no viable college economics text (including this one) will ever  be described on course evaluations with words such as, \"lilting prose\" or \"Like the vampires in 'Twilight' this economics text made marginal cost curves spring to life; flying off the pages and into my heart...\" However, Libby Rittenberg \u0026amp; Timothy Tregarthen truly do do (good thing my 13-year-old boy isn't in the room) a marvelous job of keeping the (captive) reader's interest and attention. From the references to Heraclitis in the preface to the effect of cancelled games on pro-basketball players' earnings in a later chapter, the reading is peppered with references and examples designed to clarify potentially (and actually) complex social, political, economic, and mathematical concepts.  They rank, \"well above the norm\" among econ texts.  Once again, I'm choosing a rank of 4 rather than 5.  I do this for two reasons:  1) I am a bitter old man who grades way to hard (I've been told), and 2) I'm saving the ultimate-highest-rank of 5 for when they finally make a digital text that plugs directly into the higher learning centers of our students' cortices  (directly bi-passing the sizable portions of their brains dedicated to Netflix and pizza). ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"As I sheepishly admitted somewhere above, I didn't read everysingleword of the text. However of the very many pages I did read, terminology was always consistent.  I didn't find one instance where students would have been confused by the same terms being used different ways.  The framework  of the text was logical and consistent with the majority of economics texts available today, both OER and elsewhere. Just to be clear, that is a good thing.  I'm generally unimpressed with authors that strive to distinguish their text by presenting material in an avant-garde or experimental way. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Okay, I can't help myself, is \"modularity\" really a word? \nAccording to the authors themselves, all the chapters  are written using a “modular” format. It appears that most of the chapters are divided into major sections (three in most cases). This helps keep topics from becoming too darn unwieldy.  Each  section also contains  learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a nice story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Good stuff!  Plenty of useful examples and a good assortment of different types of questions (with answers).  I'm seriously considering using this text in my in-class sections and perhaps my online as well.  Hence, the modularity issue is an important one to me.  I don't have the time or inclination to cover all the chapters of any economics text, including this one.  As most of you reading this likely know, this can be a problem with some texts that have chapters so tightly linked that missing out on one or more \"episodes\" (let alone ten) would leave the students quite befuddled (kind of like, \"Downton Abbey\"). Reading through this text leaves me with the strong impression that this would not be a problem (more like, \"General Hospital\"). In the authors' own words, \"To ensure students realize that economics is a unified discipline and not a bewildering array of seemingly unrelated topics, we develop the presentation of microeconomics and of macroeconomics around integrating themes.\"","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Boy, this sure sounds an awful lot like #5 and to a lesser extent #6 above which reference \"consistency\" ,\"framework\", \"easily realigned\" and other related concepts.That said, I'll do my best to approach it as a somehow unique and separate query.  And even if I am unable to do so, I will almost certainly still manage to write many many words. Why?  Because I've been to graduate school!\nTo aid the \"organization/structure/flow\" of the text, the authors have organized the material a manner deliberately intended to show students that economics is a cohesive body of thought and not some sort of maddening series of complex and unrelated topics. Economic concepts can be (and regularly are) divided into the two general categories of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics; \"Integrating themes\" are used for both the Macro and Micro topics.  For Macro, the integrating theme is the notion of Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand (sexy stuff that). The integrating theme for microeconomics is the \"marginal decision rule.\" This powerful (and fun!) idea is presented quite early in the text and then used throughout the remaining discussions of microeconomics.\n","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"A great job was done with the text's interface.  All the graphs and charts and tables are clear and uncluttered and generally user-friendly.  Understandably, you won't find the dizzying array of expensive multi-colored, 3D, flip-page gadgets that appear in some $307.59 economics texts.  That stuff is spendy and lest we forget, the point of OER materials is to bring costs to students down.  I can happily accept the simple, straight-forward, understandable format contained herein.  Frankly, many of the \"fancier\" presentations often provide more distraction than edification.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Granted, I didn't have magnifying glass in hand, but in all the material I read I don't recall seeing a single grammatical faux pas. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"While I can't absolutely guarantee that there's not a single humanoid  on our fair planet that would find any words in this text offensive, I can with some confidence say that if we did find such a person they would likely be more than a little bit wacko. While the authors didn't shy away from potentially controversial but relevant economics related topics, they were without exception respectful and inclusive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll spell it out:  This is a great college level economics principles text.  Before long, I intend to quite requiring the expensive text  now used in my in-class courses and require students to read chapters from this OER text instead. Thanks Libby Rittenberg \u0026amp; Timothy Tregarthen for all your good work!","created_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1357,"first_name":"Maxwell","last_name":"Eseonu","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Virginia State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text's coverage is comprehensive. The writing approach is a very good one; that is, giving the reader a heads-up in concept coverages, real world applications of concepts and giving the reader an  opportunity to apply learned concepts into real world applications (Learning By Doing).\n\nThe chapter flows is very good. I am suggesting that Chapter 11: The World of Imperfect Competition should be spelled-out clearly: Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly.\n\nChapter 16: Anti-trust Policy and Business Regulation should be brought forward and should read: Anti-trust Policy and Regulation - It is an Economics Text and not a Business Text. The normal flow in the Microeconomic Section is that once the Market Structure chapters are covered, the chapter on Anti-trust Policy and Regulation should follow.\n\nOn the Macroeconomics side, the flow between chapters 20 - 23 is a good one but I would suggest a re-arranging of the chapters so that Fiscal Policy Issues are addressed before the Monetary Policy Chapters. Therefore, the proposed re-arranging should be as follows:\n            1.  Chapters 20 - 23\n            2.  Chapter 31\n            3.  Chapters 28, 29 and 27\n            4.  Chapters 24,25, 26 and remaining chapters can then follow.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"It is OKAY for an introductory text. The relevant concepts coverage are in place.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"It is a GOOD text and considering the high cost of textbooks, I will strongly consider using it in my Principles of Economics courses. Thank you to whomever envisioned such a worthwhile venture!","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"It is very clear and concise. It will be easily readable and understood by students.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is relevant, good coverage of concepts and will be easily understood by students.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"It is easily readable but I have also made some suggestions in re-arranging the flow of chapters.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"See suggestions above.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"For a text made available to Community of Learners, without any cost, it achieves the purpose like other high-priced textbooks. All I can say is THANK YOU!","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"It is in line with other high-priced texts. Being first edition, the second edition will be better.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"It is a balanced text. Instead of extolling the vices, I commend the writer(s) for a splendid job and should continue the GOODWORK!","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I very much like the text and will consider it highly for adoption in my Principles of Economics Courses. One of the problems I encounter with my students is that majority of them do not buy the prescribed textbook and this will be a great solution to this problem - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1571,"first_name":"Robert","last_name":"Berman","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"American University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"Comprehensive in overall coverage; yet many on the sections leave out important discussions. For example, the table of contents covers everything that would be discussed in a two semester principles course -- micro \u0026amp; macro separately. However, the discussions are insufficient, sometimes to the extent of misleading the reader. For example, discussion of the long-run average cost curve shows an area on economies OF scale (associated with multiple sizes of plot) flowed my a range of constant returns TO scale (TO which scale? Still talking about several scales), then an range of economies OF scale. Confusion is (1) reader never told that economies and discommodes BOTH exist over the entire range. Downward sloping and upward sloping reflect the NET economies. Beginning students wonder if the economies disappear, or if diseconomies only appear with very large sizes. It would be helpful to distinguish between technological and pecuniary, and between internal and external. Finally. Mixing discussion of returns OF and TO scale confuses with short-run diminishing returns TO scale with economies and diseconomies OF different scale alternatives.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"There are some problems in accuracy owing to attempts to simplify or \"dumb down\" for beginning students. This is the problem of principles texts generally, and the inaccuracies here are on a par with those in other published works. See above discussion on comprehensiveness. Also, no distinction between simple inventory / style fluctuations and surplus  and shortage problems. Explanations do not adequately distinguish between WILLINGNESS to buy and sell and quantities bought and sold.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Text is on par with most text in the field. Not likely to become obsolete. NB: I am no one who insists on most recent data or topical issues -- articles can easily supplement in this area. Theory and logic evolve over time. Updates should be relatively easy to implement. Most importantly in this area, organization and structure of presentation is classical and consistent with how I and many others structure a course.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Jargon is not a problem and text is not overly technical. As stated earlier, lucidity problems stem from inadequate discussion in attempt to simplify. Similar to published texts in this area.","consistency_rating":3,"consistency_review":"Consistency is somewhat problematic, as discussed above, for example switching back and forth between quantity (actually) supplied/demanded and willingness to supply/demand such quantities; also economies OF scale and returns TO scale are used interchangeably ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Modularity is good; similar to other published principles texts.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Organization/structure/flow is easy to work with.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No problems with interface. Electronic version (e.g., .PDF) takes advance of hyperlinks to reference charts and other sections.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors noted.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Did not review with an eye to cultural relevance or political correctness. Nothing stood out as being problematic.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I will seriously consider the text. It is on par with commercially published principles texts -- none of which I have been completely happy with. One potentially negative factor is the lack of an electronic homework capability. Need to confer with students about how useful this is to their learning (as opposed to my teaching); and perhaps experiment with using the electronic homework / quizzes/tests developed for a different text with this one.","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":2244,"first_name":"Joanna","last_name":"Short","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book includes all the usual principles topics, and then some.  Want to talk about the effect of third-party payers in health care markets?  Farm policy?  Economies in transition?  There's a chapter for each of these topics.  Throughout, there are references to important historical events, which I appreciate.  The Great Depression, for example, is mentioned several times.  Some depth is sacrificed, through, to hit on all of these topics.  I did not see a glossary, which is a glaring omission for an introductory textbook.  In-text problems, with solutions, and end-of-chapter problems are included.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not notice any inaccuracies.  Perhaps this is more of an interface issue, but I did notice a problem with the formula for elasticity.  At least in the online version I was reading from, equation 5.1 \"did not parse.\"  This could be a big issue for students trying to understand the elasticity chapter.  However, students would also probably be better than I am at finding a format that works","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This text does a nice job of including a lot of environmental examples, which I think students usually find interesting and relevant.  Chapter 1, for example, refers to oil extraction and water use, as well as careers and salaries in economics (another topic that should be of interest).  Most case-in-point articles are at least 10 years old, though.  I would like to see these updated.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"In addition to the lack of depth, I find the writing style a little choppy.  Reading this text is a little like reading a small-town newspaper.  I frequently wanted more investigative reporting instead of just-the-facts.  I am currently using the Krugman and Wells text (for Micro Principles), largely because it reads in many parts like a story.    \n\nI did not find many spots where I felt students would be confused, other than one spot in chapter 1, where a good is defined as \"scarce\" if it has alternative uses, such as air which we can either breathe or pollute.  In other words, a good is scarce if it is limited.  In contrast, a free good is not limited, like gravity.  I find these examples (air and gravity, illustrating opposites) a little confusing particularly for chapter 1.  If I were the author, I would avoid mention of free goods to emphasize that virtually everything is scarce.  This is a minor issue, but I hate to see any issues so early in the book that might discourage later reading.  In contrast, the section in this chapter on careers in economics is clear and engaging.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I did not notice any issues with consistency in the text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This is a strength of the book.  There are many chapters, instructors can pick and choose and rearrange as they see fit.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Generally speaking, the text follows the usual order, micro then macro.  Personally, I would have rearranged the chapters a little.  For example, I would probably use chapter 6 (consumer surplus, and deadweight loss) before chapter 4 (applications of supply and demand) so we can analyze deadweight loss from price controls.  Also, the Keynesian Cross from chapter 28 goes before Aggregate Demand and Supply (chapter 22).  But you can always cover in any order you want. \n \nThe flow suffers a little from the choppy writing style and lack of depth I mentioned under Clarity.  Perhaps students appreciate this more than I do, however.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"This is a real strength of the text.  New terms are highlighted in blue.  The graphs and charts are colorful and easy-to-read.  I only found a few issues from the online version that I read from.  First the elasticity formula didn't come through, and one of the TryIt! problems in chapter 2 appears to be missing part of the table.  There is reference to the production possibilities for Plant R and Plant S, and I only see a table for Plant R.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I think the text does a good job of including some international examples, as well as frequent reference to environmental issues that some texts ignore.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I like that instructors can easily pick and choose chapters, and the graphs and charts are colorful and engaging.  Each chapter has TryIt! problems with answers, as well as end-of-chapter problems (both conceptual problems and numerical problems).  The case-in-point articles are relevant but a bit dated.  Will they be updated?  Also, I just find it strange that the authors are \"unnamed\" or \"anonymous.\"  Is this common with OER textbooks?  I just feel obligated to give credit where credit is due--I'm not sure I can put anonymous on my syllabus.","created_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2961,"first_name":"Marek","last_name":"Kolar","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Trine University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The scope of the book is impressive, it even includes a chapter on the recent history of macroeconomic thought, with a great discussion of the macroeconomic policy during Great Depression, and since, doing a good job integrating the tools developed in earlier chapters. I don't recall seeing anything close to this in other intro to economics textbooks that I have seen. Individual topics are developed in sufficient depth, for instance the discussion of marginal benefit and marginal cost in chapter 6 is more detailed than in most of the other textbooks that I have seen. While the scope of the coverage is great, I couldn't find an index or a glossary of terms. Important terms are highlighted in the text, but I couldn't find a list of definitions to these.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The textbook seems to be accurate, without errors, and I think the author does a good job providing a balanced view, at least judging by the standards set by other principles of economics textbooks. The inclusion of topics is very standard and the discussion seems objective. I would personally like to see inclusion of the Austrian View of the Business Cycle, and of a more critical perspective on inflation, debt, and the role of government in general.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"The lack of recent updates is in my opinion the main weakness of the textbook. In most chapters it doesn't matter much, but for the discussion of monetary and fiscal policy it is important to point out that the discussion in the textbook ends with the immediate aftermath of the 2008 recession, thus is missing the more recent changes in the Fed's policy and recent developments. The book lacks a discussion of negative interest rates, Fed's growing balance sheet, and the recent increases in government debt and budget deficits. This seems not to have been updated since 2010.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"For an economics textbook, the writing is easy to understand, which makes it accessible to a wide range of students, but may not be an ideal choice for a more advanced student who may prefer a more demanding text. I found many of the examples interesting and engaging, for instance the example of smokers being on net a positive externality in chapter 11, or the example of hockey teams maximizing profits in chapter 10.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent throughout.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter is organized in a few sections, each with its own learning objectives, examples, and a few questions to be answered. It seems easy to either pick a section from a chapter, or skip a section, without losing continuity. It seems effort was put into chapters being able to stand alone on their own, for instance there is a separate chapter (23) on economic growth, investment (29), and interest rate - loanable funds market (13).","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"As mentioned under Modularity, the book does a good job including many stand-alone chapters, but this creates a problem in organization. For instance it is difficult to make the connection among interest rates, investment, saving, consumption, and economic growth, as the coverage is spread across chapters 13, 23, and 29. There is a small sub-section (a little over a page) in section 29.1 explaining the relationships, but overall I had difficulties finding the main points among the detailed discussion. I could see students getting a bit lost in the detail presented, and not being able to clearly see the bigger picture. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I found the charts easy to read, and the use of colors is user-friendly. There are clickable links to figures within the text (if read online). The format is pretty easy to follow.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors encountered.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The pictures in the text feature people of various races, and examples feature a variety of countries from different continents.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is a great textbook, likely to please anyone looking for a standard introductory economics text done well and freely available. The only significant downside is that it hasn't been updated since about 2010, which I find problematic for the monetary and fiscal policy discussions.","created_at":"2019-05-30T15:05:50.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-05-30T15:05:50.000-05:00"},{"id":3145,"first_name":"Joyce","last_name":"Burnette","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Wabash College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book covers everything I do in Principles, plus some things I would like to include if I had time.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Standard economics.  Does a good job with the GDP measurement problems.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Includes specific examples from the news.  Examples are a couple years old.  Most won't go out of date, but for a few you notice their age.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I particularly like the \"Heads Up\" section, which accurately points out the most common mistakes that undergraduates make.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"AS/AD is introduced early in the macroeconomic section and is used in later chapters.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Arranged usefully into relatively short chapters.  Inevitably, some chapters assume that you learned the previous material (S\u0026D, or AS/AD).","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The typical organization.  Micro and then macro.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Some of the equations did not show up in the program I was using to read it.  In chapter 5 the sections are in the wrong order.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No problems.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Most examples are from the US, but there are some examples from elsewhere in the world.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I found this book to follow quite closely the way I like to teach principles.  ","created_at":"2019-08-12T14:23:45.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-08-12T14:23:45.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-economics","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:25:47.000-06:00"},{"id":33,"title":"Principles of Macroeconomics","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2016,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused. The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Our goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types. A tour of the features available for each chapter may give a better sense of what we mean: Start Up—Chapter introductions set the stage for each chapter with an example that we hope will motivate readers to study the material that follows. These essays, on topics such as the value of a college degree in the labor market or how policy makers reacted to a particular economic recession, lend themselves to the type of analysis explained in the chapter. We often refer to these examples later in the text to demonstrate the link between theory and reality. Learning Objectives—These succinct statements are guides to the content of each section. Instructors can use them as a snapshot of the important points of the section. After completing the section, students can return to the learning objectives to check if they have mastered the material.Heads Up!—These notes throughout the text warn of common errors and explain how to avoid making them. After our combined teaching experience of more than fifty years, we have seen the same mistakes made by many students. This feature provides additional clarification and shows students how to navigate possibly treacherous waters. Key Takeaways—These statements review the main points covered in each content section. Key Terms—Defined within the text, students can review them in context, a process that enhances learning. Try It! questions—These problems, which appear at the end of each content section and which are answered completely in the text, give students the opportunity to be active learners. They are designed to give students a clear signal as to whether they understand the material before they go on to the next topic. Cases in Point—These essays included at the end of each content section illustrate the influence of economic forces on real issues and real people. Unlike other texts that use boxed features to present interesting new material or newspaper articles, we have written each case ourselves to integrate them more clearly with the rest of the text. Summary—In a few paragraphs, the information presented in the chapter is pulled together in a way that allows for a quick review of the material.End-of-chapter concept and numerical problems—These are bountiful and are intended to check understanding, to promote discussion of the issues raised in the chapter, and to engage students in critical thinking about the material. Included are not only general review questions to test basic understanding but also examples drawn from the news and from results of economics research. Some have students working with real-world data.","contributors":[],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"},{"id":9,"name":"Social Sciences","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"H1","visible_textbooks_count":285,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences"}],"publishers":[{"id":333,"url":"http://open.lib.umn.edu/macroeconomics/","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:39.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:39.000-05:00","name":"University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing"}],"formats":[{"id":534,"type":"Online","url":"https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Economics/Principles_of_Macroeconomics_(LibreTexts)","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":533,"type":"PDF","url":"https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Economics/Principles_of_Macroeconomics_(LibreTexts)","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1715,"type":"eBook","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/macroeconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2276,"type":"ODF","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/macroeconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2277,"type":"XML","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/macroeconomics/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":3,"reviews":[{"id":204,"first_name":"Darcy","last_name":"Hartman","position":"Senior Lecturer","institution_name":"The Ohio State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Having spent a bit of time working my way through other textbooks to arrive at one that seemed to fit my style of teaching, I am pleasantly surprised at the comprehensiveness of this text. It covers all the main principles that would typically be covered, but also includes some chapters on subjects that would be great to implement given enough time. At the very least, they are a resource for students that have taken a greater interest in the course work. I am speaking specifically on the chapters toward the end relating to poverty and income inquality. Additionally, the book contains a good review of graphing and some of the mathematics utilized within the book.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I will not suggest that I am providing a thorough review in accuracy, but from what I have reviewed, nothing seemed remiss. Perhaps a typo here or there - not enough to interrupt the flow of the material. But everything seemed in order from a content perspective.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The ability to update material would be the part most concerning to me as I do not know the updating practices for the authors. There seems to be good coverage of more recent events, and certainly there is good coverage going further back. I do not take issue with it as it stands. Even with the more expensive textbooks, it is the obligation of the professor or lecturer to keep students current while applying the principles being taught.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I think that what I appreciate most with the textbook is that it seems to be written in a very straightforward manner. One common complaint that I hear from students is that textbook explanations can be tedious to get through. Given all the examples that are provided, and all the sample problems utilized, in addition to the actual writing, I think that students, including international students, would find this a generally approachable source.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Again, with the caveat that I have not read through every single part of the book, in my examination of the text, I did not enounter any inconsistencies within the book. Also, I felt that the presentation seemed consistent, yet more comprehensive, than most textbooks I have utilized.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The breakdown of the text makes it very approachable from a learner standpoint. It is clear what the objectives are within each small section, and the objectives never seem overwhelming. This is useful from a teaching standpoint to keep students from feeling overwhelmed.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"The organization of the book does not align with the current way that I teach. While I am open to making adjustments, I do think that the order of some chapters could be rearranged. For example, the topic of economic growth could easily be combined with development rather than treated as an afterthought. With an increasing focus on internationalization in higher education, separating the two suggests a sense of other from my perspective. I find it confusing to have GDP included in the chapter on inflation and unemployment, but then treated separately afterward. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There were a few distractions for me in the layout that seemed to be issues with how it displayed on my computer. These were not so serious that they would prevent me from utilizing the materials. I have not had the chance to see how it presents on an ipad, tablet or phone.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I spotted one or two errors, but not enough to deter me from using the book.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I certainly did not encounter anything that seemed culturally insensitive or offensive. I would encourage greater use of international examples, particularly when looking at policy tools. The book is U.S. focused; although this is the case with virtually every textbook that is presented to me. Internationalization of the curriculum seems to be an increasingly popular theme. \r\nThat said, the book certainly utilizes enough international examples for me to consider it.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"I am pleasantly surprised by this book. As I prepare for the 2015-2016 academic year, I will certainly consider using this text. I would need to get a better idea of how easily one can access the specific materials needed on demand.","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2314,"first_name":"Brad","last_name":"Humphreys","position":"Professor of Economics","institution_name":"West Virginia University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers all the topics that would typically be covered in a one semester principles of macro course.  Measurement of production, employment, prices, interest rates.  Short run (cycles) and long run (growth).  Theoretical perspectives from the Keynesian and classical perspectives.  International topics (trade, globalization).  The index looks reasonable.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"It appears accurate to me.  I teach principles of macro every semester so I am familiar with the basic content.  I have not used it in a class yet, so I have not been through this book in detail.  ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The information is up to date as of 2015.  The GDP estimates are from 2014/15 as are the inflation and unemployment estimates.  I assume that this will be periodically updated.  Not much has changed in principles of macro recently, so keeping this text current will not be much of an issue (until the next recession occurs).","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"This is based on Tim Taylors book (they bought the rights) so the original text was written by a respected economist.  It is clearly written and undergrads should find this engaging and accessible.  The jargon is minimal.  ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The terminology and framework are completely standard for a principles of macro text.  Again, I have taught principles of macro every semester for the last 3-4 years, and the terminology and framework here are what would be expected.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"No long blocks of text.  Frequent and clear subheadings.  If anything, the chapters appear to be quite short.  Some of the chapters appear to be approximately one 75 minute lecture of material.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Very typical organization for a principles of macro text.  I have used several (two in the last 3 years - John Taylor and Coppock and Mateer), and they all have the same basic organization.  ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The graphs, figures, photos and tables all looked good to me.  Readable.  Clear. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not see any grammatical errors.  I did not read every chapter, but I'm sure Tim Taylor's book was thoroughly edited when it was being published by a for-profit publishing house.  ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Examples are drawn fro all over the world, and the photos are inclusive.  I did not see any culturally insensitive passages.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Ancillary Material /  / The test bank is relatively small.  Each chapter has about 35-40 multiple choice questions.  This probably not enough for use in a large enrollment section - most test banks from for-profit publishers contain at least 100 multiple choice questions per chapter.  The multiple questions all look fine to me.  There are some essay questions but I teach large (300+) sections that only use multiple choice questions. /  / The provided PowerPoint slides are rudimentary.  They basically contain some of the figures, photos, and tables from the text.  It will take some time and effort for instructors to develop complete PowerPoint slides for this book. ","created_at":"2018-09-12T13:35:13.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-12T13:55:02.000-05:00"},{"id":34357,"first_name":"Faunce","last_name":"Elizabeth","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Radford University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text appropriately addresses all required areas of macroeconomic topics and provides a clear table of contents/index; however, no glossary is provided.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The textbook is accurate and appears to be free of errors.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"This text was published in 2016, and while the content is accurate, it is not current.  For example, Chapter 11, Monetary Policy \u0026 The Fed, discusses the challenges The Fed faced in 2008.  Given the financial impact of Covid and the current inflationary period, the recent actions of The Fed's (2022) should be addressed.  Supplemental material would be needed to accompany the use of this text.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text appropriately utilizes jargon and terminology needed in a fundamental macroeconomics course.  Additionally, the author presents the content as if he/she was speaking directly to a class, which I believe provides clarity to the reader.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent with regards to the structure of the chapters, terminology, and resources (key takeaways, \"try it!\", etc).","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The textbook is appropriately divided into chapters that can then be easily broken into smaller reading sections.  The instructor could easily select the chapters most relevant for their class and then break the chapter up into several class lectures or reading assignments.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The organization of the text is probably the one area that I would change.  For example, I would present chapter 16 (inflation and employment) after chapter 8 (economic growth) and I would present chapter 12 (fiscal policy) before addressing chapter 9, 10 and 11 (money creation and monetary policy).","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"This book is very easy to access, with multiple options provided.  Additionally, the hyperlinks to the figures, located within each chapter, were very helpful.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is generally very well written and I found no significant grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is in no way culturally insensitive and I found most examples and visuals generic in nature.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2023-01-10T15:19:06.000-06:00","updated_at":"2023-01-10T15:19:06.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-macroeconomics","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:04:27.000-06:00"},{"id":47,"title":"Introduction to Economic Analysis","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2009,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"This book presents standard intermediate microeconomics material and some material that, in the authors' view, ought to be standard but is not. Introductory economics material is integrated. Standard mathematical tools, including calculus, are used throughout. The book easily serves as an intermediate microeconomics text, and can be used for a relatively sophisticated undergraduate who has not taken a basic university course in economics. The focus of this book is on the conceptual tools and not on fluff. As such, it reflects the approach actually adopted by the majority of economists for understanding economic activity. There are lots of models and equations, and no pictures of economists ;-) Economic analysis is used in many situations. When British Petroleum sets the price for Alaskan crude oil, it uses an estimated demand model, both for gasoline consumers and also for the refineries to which BP sells. Economic analysis was used by experts in the antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice both to understand Microsoft's incentive to foreclose (eliminate from the market) rival Netscape and consumer behavior in the face of alleged foreclosure. Stock market analysts use economic models to forecast the profits of companies to predict the price of their stocks. When the government forecasts the budget deficit or considers a change in environmental regulations, it uses economic models. This book presents the building blocks of the models in common use by an army of economists thousands of times per day. This book, plus econometrics, provides most of the economic analysis tools to take upper division economics courses of any type.","contributors":[{"id":2382,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":"Dr","first_name":"Preston","middle_name":null,"last_name":"McAfee","location":"Caltech","background_text":"R. Preston McAfee received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Florida, and master of science in mathematics and a Ph.D in economics from Purdue University. McAfee is the J. Stanley Johnson Professor of Business, Economics \u0026 Management at Caltech. He is on leave as Vice-President and Research Fellow at Yahoo!, where he heads an economic research team. The author of many academic papers on auctions, McAfee was one of the designers of the Federal Communication Commission’s first auction of radio spectrum rights for cellular phones. Over $100 billion worth of airwaves and other items have been sold this auction design. He has run auctions in Mexico and advised several governments on auction use. McAfee served as an economic expert in a variety of antitrust cases, including Exxon-Mobil, BP-Arco, Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman, and Peoplesoft-Oracle. He also testified in the U.S. versus Rambus, and has testified before three U.S. Senate committees on antitrust enforcement and gasoline pricing."},{"id":2383,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":"Dr","first_name":"Tracy","middle_name":"R","last_name":"Lewis","location":"Duke University","background_text":"Tracy R. Lewis is the Martin L. Black Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and Director of the Duke University Innovation Center. Other positions held by Dr. Lewis include the following: James Walter Eminent Scholar in Economics, University of Florida; Associate Director of Energy Studies, Public Utilities Research Center; Director, Program on Workable Energy Regulation (POWER); Professor of Economics, University of California, Davis; Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia; Assistant Director, Program in Natural Resource Economics; Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, California Institute of Technology; Associate Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia; Brookings Fellow, Washington, DC; Visiting Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia; Assistant Professor, University of Arizona. In addition to the roles above, Dr. Lewis has served as Economic Advisor for the National Research Council, Academy of Sciences. He has been a consultant to numerous organizations including the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the World Bank Project on Abatement of Greenhouse Gases, Florida Power and Light Company, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Energy, the Rand Corporation, and many others. Dr. Lewis has published two books, numerous articles, and has served as editor on a wide range of journals including: the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, the B. E. journals in industrial organization, and Review of Network Economics—to name a few. He has been awarded over 15 grants, fellowships, and awards. Tracy earned his B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego."}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":70,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Introduction%20to%20Economic%20Analysis.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":270,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Introduction%20to%20Economic%20Analysis.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":271,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_introduction-to-economic-analysis/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":4,"reviews":[{"id":974,"first_name":"Christine ","last_name":"Luketic","position":"Adjunct Professor/ Instructor","institution_name":"Virginia Tech","comprehensiveness_rating":1,"comprehensiveness_review":"The title of this book is misleading.  It is a book about economics and economic theory, but not about economic analyses, or econometrics. My rating on comprehensiveness is referring directly to the lack of applied econometric and economic analysis material as you would find in a text as by Stock and Watson, or Angrist, et al\n","accuracy_rating":1,"accuracy_review":"I cannot assess the accuracy because I expected it to be a book regarding economic analysis and econometrics.  It is not.\n","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The text appears to be clearly laid out and easily updatable","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The clarity and ease of reading is fairly direct.\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.\n","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Yes","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Yes","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Yes, there do not appear to be any navigational issues","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"  I did not read every part of the text, but the sections that I did review did not appear to have grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"I did not find any outstanding examples of cultural relevance","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":"I was excited at the idea of an on-line free economic analysis book/ econometrics book that would be accessible to students and general audiences alike.  This text has a significant amount of value in its content.  However, the title should be changed to be more relevant","created_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":3197,"first_name":"Hanzhe","last_name":"Zhang","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Michigan State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers all the necessary topics, starting from a series of introductory and overview chapters, to fundamental consumer and producer theories, to game theory and its applications and beyond. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is quite concise and covers all the standard topics.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Since the book covers all the core topics of intermediate microeconomics, it should not be obsolete for a while.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is quite concise, complemented by end-of-section summaries.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter in the book is relatively short and can be covered in a 1.5-hour class period.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The equations in the textbook can be better typeset, for example, the equations associated with elasticities can be improved.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text has been tested and tried, is free of errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text, as most economics texts, uses dispassionate language.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"The first review of the book was off in my opinion, because the reviewer thought this book was about econometrics but in fact it has nothing to do with econometrics.","created_at":"2019-10-19T22:52:18.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-10-19T22:52:18.000-05:00"},{"id":3577,"first_name":"Bryan","last_name":"Buckley","position":"Assistant Teaching Professor","institution_name":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"There are two margins for comprehensiveness that need to be considered: the number of concepts and the depth of any particular concept. \r\nThe text covers most of the main topics covered in an intermediate microeconomic theory course and some additional chapters which can be covered at the discretion of the instructor. There was one, noticeable oversight for me, the text does leave out cross-price and income elasticity. There are likely places where the text does not cover a topic that an instructor feels is important. \r\nRelative to a standard textbook, this book has fewer graphs to illustrate concepts, a quicker explanation of math, and shorter chapters. There are no specific mathematical examples to help guide students. Students who do not have much experience with applying math to economics will likely be lost. \r\n","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The accuracy of the material is high. However, there are places where the authors define profit in a way which is actually producer surplus to most economists. There are likely other places that will stand out to any particular instructor. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Occasionally, the text will use examples that seem 10 to 20 years old like “camcorders.” \r\nSome of the time series data ends in by 2010, some in the year 2000.\r\n","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"Often, the language is informal and conversational. This is a good feature. \r\nHowever, the introduction of the math is high-level. The math will potentially alienate students who take the course who are less comfortable with calculus.  The math in the chapters is limited to general forms. This will lead to problems for students who need more concrete examples when being introduced to a concept.\r\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent in the style of presentation and in the use of terminology and concepts.  ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter is relatively self-contained. Instructors should be able to choose which concepts fit their course with ease.  Additionally, each chapter is subdivided, and instructors could choose from within a chapter as well.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Overall the organization is clear and logical. Students are given Key Takeaways that summarize the information in a chapter. These work well. Students are also given Exercises to practice the concepts, however there are no solutions. Some Exercises are introduced before the material required to answer the question is introduced. For instance, students are asked to draw an Edgeworth box in CH 6 when the concept is not covered until CH 14. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Critically, there are many places where the math does not seem to display properly. There are other formatting issues like “Unexpected text node: ‘.”  Firefox was able to display the math correctly, while Google Chrome and Internet Explorer were not. The issue is also present in the PDF version. Instructors will need to ensure that students are able to access the textbook in a way that does not have these formatting issues. \r\nGraphs have no color. While this is helpful for students who wish to print out the text, it does miss the opportunities that color coding can provide.\r\n","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Occasionally, there seems to be a formatting error that combines words. It is not terribly difficult to figure out. The most problematic instance is when “a positive” becomes “apositive” which makes the ‘a’ seem like a prefix for positive. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Much of economics is separate from discussions of culture. The text is fairly standard in its approach and focuses on typical examples and markets that will be familiar to other texts.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The text varies between intuitive discussions of real-world markets and deep mathematics. The intuitive portions of the text will be something that students at the intermediate level will be able to understand easily. The authors cover many different, relevant topics in this style. \r\nHowever, things become much more difficult when the text introduces math. The math is quickly introduced in its most general forms. This will prove difficult for students who have not applied calculus to economics before. I believe only the students who are extremely comfortable with calculus will be able to read the text and follow the math.  \r\nAdditionally, there seems to be a formatting error when the math is displayed. Students and instructors will need to test several browsers to see which one accurately displays the equations. For my experience, Firefox was able to display the math correctly, while Google Chrome and Internet Explorer were not.","created_at":"2020-02-10T13:12:20.000-06:00","updated_at":"2020-02-10T13:12:20.000-06:00"},{"id":3742,"first_name":"Brendan","last_name":"Cushing Daniels","position":"Associate Professor or Economics","institution_name":"Gettysburg College","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"Unless I am missing it because the file I downloaded is incomplete, there is no index or glossary, nor is there a table of contents. The comprehensiveness of the material itself in terms of topics covered is quite good - better, in fact, than many other intermediate textbooks. However, the depth of coverage of many of the topics is not as good as other textbooks.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"There are few obvious errors in the text.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"There are few enough specifics that can go out of date quickly, but there are too few concrete examples as a result.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is clearly written and accessible.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Not only internally consistent, but students who have taken an introductory course using any standard text would find it easy to access the material in this textbook.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Chapters are broken down into manageable parts that would allow students to read effectively in shorter doses rather than sit and read through a longer chapter at a time, something many students cannot do with great retention.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Most intermediate micro texts take consumer theory before producer theory so that after developing the latter, the book can seamlessly transition to market structures other than perfectly competitive. This book flips consumer and producer theory, and I don't think that works. There are other choices of organizational structure I found odd, but I admit it could be due to overexposure to standard treatment in other textbooks.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I cannot be sure that the problems I have reading the equations throughout are not due to my own computer/interface, but I found the equations in particular difficult to read clearly.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The book is largely free of grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Largely non-gendered, non-culture specific with the obvious exceptions like the chapter on the US economy.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"For an open source textbook, the several hundred dollar savings to students more than outweighs its shortcomings.","created_at":"2020-04-20T13:57:03.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-04-20T13:57:03.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/introduction-to-economic-analysis","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:53.000-06:00"},{"id":126,"title":"Economics – Theory Through Applications","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2012,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Russell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You're thinking, ”Yeah, sure. I've heard that before.“ This textbook, Economics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem. Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students' economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know. How? Russell and Andrew have done three things in this text to accomplish that goal: Applications Ahead of Theory: They present all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed. Learning through Repetition: Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts. A Student's Table of Contents vs. An Instructor's Table of Contents: There is no further proof that Russell and Andrew have created a book aimed specifically at educating students about economics than their two tables of contents.","contributors":[{"id":1915,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Russell","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Cooper","location":"European University Institute","background_text":"Russell Cooper is currently Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence Italy and the Fred Hofheinz Regents Professor of Economics at the University of Texas, a position he has held since 2003. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 and has held positions at Yale University, the University of Iowa and Boston University. Cooper is a NBER Faculty Research Fellow and the Fellow of the Econometric Society."},{"id":1916,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Andrew","middle_name":null,"last_name":"John","location":"Melbourne Business School","background_text":"Andrew John is Associate Professor of Economics at Melbourne Business School. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from The University of Dublin, Trinity College, in 1981, and his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1988. He has held academic appointments at Michigan State University, the University of Virginia, and INSEAD. He has also held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan, the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, and the University of Texas at Austin. He joined Melbourne Business School in January 2009. Andrew has consulting experience in the areas of marketing, economics, and strategy. He has worked with clients in Australia, Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has also worked with firms in the consumer goods and consulting sectors. Andrew has taught economics to undergraduates, Ph.D. students, MBA students, and executives. His research interests include state-dependent pricing models, environmental economics, coordination games, and consumer boycotts. His published research has appeared in top economics and business journals, including American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Management Science, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Marketing. His work is widely cited in economics journals.\""}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[],"formats":[{"id":244,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Economics%20-%20Theory%20Through%20Applications.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":245,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_economics-theory-through-applications/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":4,"reviews":[{"id":2741,"first_name":"Kaitlin","last_name":"Hakanson","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"Klamath Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"With 31 chapters, this textbook covers the majority of important concepts and terminology. The last chapter is titled \"toolkit\" and consists of formulas, definitions, and terminology that students will encounter throughout the text. This is a great feature that I think students and instructors would find useful.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I did not encounter any obvious errors in the text. It is written for the traditional college student, which I think would leave some non-traditional students feeling as though they cannot relate to every example. That being said, the examples I read are realistic and do a good job of illustrating the concepts.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"There is discussion about the recent recession (2008), which is a big plus. This example is also nested in the global landscape, not just the U.S. 31 chapters is a lot, but they are organized in a manner that would allow easy updating without upsetting the structure of the text. In other words, it's modular.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The style and tone of this textbook makes it very accessible, and it is one of the strengths of the text.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text has a good balance between the qualitative and quantitative aspects of economics. Some of the chapters are more focused on one side more than the other.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Thematic sections are properly labeled and headers are also used correctly. As an instructor, I find the text approachable and a great starting point for my own lectures and activities. ","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Since this text is structured to present real-world examples and then work backwards through theory, the titles of the chapters don't follow any obvious order. So, just based on my first-impression, there isn't a clear flow.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"My impression is that the authors did their due diligence on formatting, and so all of the graphics, images, headers, and other non-text elements look great. The text is also consistent in placement, font, size, and spacing.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I read about 10% of the book and did not encounter any obvious grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"The concepts and examples are typical of European capitalist countries. There is discussion of income inequality, but all of the mechanisms for exchange are discussed in a market-based system using currency. Nothing is overtly offensive, but there wasn't a lot of effort into being inclusive of different economic systems.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2019-04-07T15:11:21.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-04-07T15:11:21.000-05:00"},{"id":2982,"first_name":"Tristan","last_name":"Coughlin","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text does a good job of covering a large amount of material while not providing the reader with extraneous information. The book covers an introduction to both micro and macroeconomic theory, so it's necessary to simplify as much as possible. This is done very well. Model assumptions and conclusions are explained in a way that is understandable to readers who may not be familiar with the mathematics behind the theory. The chapter 31 toolkit provides access to any mathematical or statistical tools that students may want or need.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content of this textbook is very accurate and unbiased. The text simplifies many theories and models, as is necessary in an introductory text, but in doing so remains as accurate as is possible. The author also does an excellent job of providing applications of the theory without bias. The applications really bring the theory to life.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Because the textbook provides real-world applications, some areas may require updating. For example, the 14th chapter about environmental externalities and the 17th chapter about the car market might require updating every few years. However, the majority of the applications used by the author are timely and enduring. Indeed, a strength of this book is that it provides up-to-date applications of relatively old economic theories and principles. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"A strength of this text is that it simplifies economic jargon and terminology in a way that is suitable to introductory students. For example, in regards to consumer preferences, it's easier for new students to understand that \"more is better\" than \"preferences are monotonic\". Necessary mathematical assumptions are often difficult to explain in a way that makes applicable sense, but this text does a good job of doing just that. The chapter 31 toolkit also provides some of the more complex details in case students are interested. ","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text offers a consistent framework. Each chapter concludes with \"End-of-Chapter material\" that includes review questions, key ideas, and website links. Although some terms can be confusingly similar as theory jumps between macro and micro, the terminology is as consistent as is possible, ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Graphs and tables work well together in this text. There is consistent formatting of headings and subheadings that make it easy to jump from one section to another. Each section is relatively short and provides a heading or subheading for each key idea. ","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"This text jumps around between micro and macroeconomic topics in a way that can make it difficult to divide an introductory class into half microeconomics and half macroeconomics. The text is perfect for a principles of economics class or an introduction to economics class, but splitting this text into it's micro and macroeconomic chapters requires a little extra time and effort. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"It's easy to move from topic to topic and chapter to chapter within this text. Graphs and tables are not interactive, but they are very easy to read and understand. Graphs and tables complement each other very well, and this is a major strength of the text. Students are able to see variable relationships numerically and graphically. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This text focuses primarily on American-style capitalism, but chapters 20 and 21 examine global issues. The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This text is perfect for a principles of economics class for economics majors and non-economics majors. The book provides very clear and interesting examples of applications of theory that can often become tedious and muddled. The text does a good job of preparing students for further study in economic theory for those who plan to do so, while simultaneously providing applicable use of economic theory to students who don't. There's a balance between application and theory that makes the text useful for a wide range of introductory economics students. ","created_at":"2019-06-12T13:02:32.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-06-12T13:02:32.000-05:00"},{"id":3300,"first_name":"Gabriel","last_name":"Armstrong","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Colorado State University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"Economics: Theory Through Applications is very comprehensive and intuitive.  The authors have created a fantastic outline of the subject, focusing on specific areas in an easy to understand context","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Russell Cooper and Andrew John are experts in their field.  They are able to take extremely concise and and advanced ideas and simplify them in context to the point of easy understanding.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Russell Cooper and Andrew John have painted a picture of broad economics and the thorough application through which the study can be used.  They are fantastic about setting the tone for easy understanding through context and pragmatism.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"While simple in nature to start, the book becomes thoroughly advanced as it progresses.  Cooper and John do a great job of expressing their ideas about economic theory well and give great examples of the use of practical application.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Cooper and John outline this book well, creating a broad picture but simplifying the concepts where appropriate to give the reader a thorough grasp of the concepts.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Divided into 30 chapters and a Toolkit, this text is great about the differentiation of the subject matter.  It can easily be studied by individual concept or as a whole.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Each section is well thought out and organized.  Clear and concise, indicative of any successful and useful text.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The display is perfect.  I read it in its .pdf format on a computer and had no issues with any interface.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Perfectly relevant, written from an unbiased and unencumbered standpoint.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Cooper and John have created a fantastic text.  This would be incredibly useful not just for an Economics class, but as the subject pertains across all business and social sciences courses.","created_at":"2019-11-20T13:14:36.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-11-20T13:14:36.000-06:00"},{"id":4156,"first_name":"Florencia","last_name":"Gabriele","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Massachusetts Bay Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book is ideal for a community college introductory class. The concepts are clearly explained. The content is very approachable. I believe this book will be clear to understand for students who are just being exposed to the subject matter.\r\nThe book can be used in an Introduction to Economics course as well as Principles of Macroeconomics or Microeconomics if the instructor  chooses the chapters to present","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate and appropriate for an introductory course","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book provides clear, useful examples that are relevant to any college student.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The book is clear and easy to understand. It uses concepts from everyday life that are relatable to students, making it easy for the instructor to adapt the book and use its examples. At the end of each chapter there a review questions that I would love to see being expanded in future editions of the book.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book has a consistent organization that is followed in every chapter.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The book is divided into 30 chapters plus a comprehensive toolkit. This allows flexibility for any instructor willing to assign the different topics of each chapter. The toolkit allows anyone to dive deeper when it comes to concepts that require a mathematical explanation.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The book can be used for Micro and Macro classes, the instructor will have to choose which chapters to pick. I believe this can be easily achieved.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I found no problems reading the book in its pdf version as well as in the online version.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"None found","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"There are 2 chapters that cover international issues (chapters 20 and 21).","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is a good book to be used in an introductory principles of economics class. It covers all the topics that most classes would discuss.","created_at":"2020-06-29T21:38:21.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-29T21:38:21.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/economics-theory-through-applications","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:50.000-06:00"},{"id":127,"title":"Macroeconomics: Theory through Applications","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2012,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Russell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You're thinking, ”Yeah, sure. I've heard that before.“ This textbook, Macroeconomics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem. Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students' economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know. How? Russell and Andrew have done three things in this text to accomplish that goal: 1. Applications Ahead of Theory: They present all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed. The authors take the kind of material that other authors put in ”applications boxes“ and place it at the heart of their book. Each chapter is built around a particular business or policy application, such as social security, globalization, and the wealth and poverty of nations. Why take this approach? Traditional courses focus too much on abstract theory relative to the interests and capabilities of the average undergraduate. Students are rarely engaged and the formal theory is never integrated into the way students think about economic issues. And traditional books are organized around theoretical constructs that mean nothing to students. The authors' applications-first approach ensures that students will not see chapters with titles like ”Cost Functions“ or ”Short-Run Fluctuations“. They introduce tools and ideas as and when they are needed. Each chapter is designed with two goals. First, the application upon which the chapter is built provides a ”hook“ that gets students' attention. Second, the application is a suitable vehicle a vehicle for teaching the principles of economics. 2. Learning through Repetition: Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts. Each piece of economic theory in this text is first introduced and explained in the context of a specific application. Most are re-used in other chapters, so students see them in action on multiple occasions. As students progress through the book, they accumulate a set of techniques and ideas. These are collected separately in a ”toolkit“ that provides students with an easy reference and also gives them a condensed summary of economic principles for examination preparation. 3. A Student's Table of Contents vs. An Instructor's Table of Contents: There is no further proof that Russell and Andrew have created a book aimed specifically at educating students about economics than their two tables of contents. The Student's Table of Contents speaks to students, piquing their interest to involve them in the economics, and a Instructor's Table of Contents with the economics to better help you organize your teaching—and frankly, you don't need to get excited by economics, you already are.","contributors":[{"id":1957,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Russell","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Cooper","location":"European University Institute","background_text":"Russell Cooper is currently Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence Italy and the Fred Hofheinz Regents Professor of Economics at the University of Texas, a position he has held since 2003. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 and has held positions at Yale University, the University of Iowa and Boston University. Cooper is a NBER Faculty Research Fellow and the Fellow of the Econometric Society."},{"id":1958,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Andrew","middle_name":null,"last_name":"John","location":"Melbourne Business School","background_text":"Andrew John is Associate Professor of Economics at Melbourne Business School. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from The University of Dublin, Trinity College, in 1981, and his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1988. He has held academic appointments at Michigan State University, the University of Virginia, and INSEAD. He has also held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan, the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, and the University of Texas at Austin. He joined Melbourne Business School in January 2009. Andrew has consulting experience in the areas of marketing, economics, and strategy. He has worked with clients in Australia, Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has also worked with firms in the consumer goods and consulting sectors. Andrew has taught economics to undergraduates, Ph.D. students, MBA students, and executives. His research interests include state-dependent pricing models, environmental economics, coordination games, and consumer boycotts. His published research has appeared in top economics and business journals, including American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Management Science, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Marketing. His work is widely cited in economics journals.\""}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":32,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Macroeconomics%20-%20Theory%20through%20Application.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":282,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Macroeconomics%20-%20Theory%20through%20Application.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":283,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_macroeconomics-theory-through-applications/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":1,"reviews":[{"id":3481,"first_name":"Cynthia ","last_name":"Mayo","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook is comprehensive and includes excellent examples of real-world issues, events that relate to the chapter’s topics. The examples relate to the issues that businesses, individuals, federal and local governments. Each chapter begins with an event that occurred related to the chapter’s topic. This makes the textbook unique, in that it includes the practical application to concepts so that they are clearly understood. The textbook covers all macroeconomic topics included include in the template in the VCCS Master Course file.\r\n\r\nThe textbook includes real-world problems and examples, stories, issues and events that affected the development of economic policies, concepts, and models. Students will be able to connect the issues presented at the beginning of the chapter with the definitions and content of each chapter.\r\nEach chapter subtopic has measurable learning objectives.\r\nThe textbook has many charts, graphs and illustrations to explain the chapter’s concepts and economic models and theories.\r\n•\tEconomics-macro and micro\r\n•\tThe State of the Economy\r\n•\tGlobalization and Capitalism\r\n•\tThe Great Depressions:\r\n•\tThe 1930s. 40’s, 2008\r\n•\tInflation\r\n•\tMonetary and Fiscal Policies\r\n•\tFederal Operations\r\n•\tMoney and Its Uses\r\n•\tToolkits for further Analysis\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate and portrays the real-world concepts as they relate to businesses, families, federal and local operations and individuals.\r\nThe content includes VCCS Master course topics: Concepts, theories, and issues that influence the economy, the application of how consumer and business decisions are made, the content is accurate and portrays the real-world concepts as they relate to businesses, families, federal and local operations and individuals.\r\nThe content includes VCCS Master course topics: Concepts, theories, and issues that influence the economy, the application of how consumer and business decisions are made, macroeconomic concepts, theories, issues, including scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, economic growth, inflation, international trade, GDP, Aggregate Supply Model, Monetary Policy, Money, Banking, Federal Reserve, Fiscal Policy, ADAS Model, Barriers to Trade. The course content includes the master economics topics and the text can be used as transfer credit.\r\n","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook is up-to-date with economics concepts and the concepts are clearly illustrated with political, social and economic events in recent years that further explain the concepts and theories. There are references to key events, such as the economic downturn in 2008, globalization, all US recessions, unemployment, GDP, the emergence and use of technology. All of these events are illustrated and related to economic principles and theories. The content is current and the book can easily be updated as the economy and other things change that affect life and living.\r\nThe book has longevity of 5-10 years if updates are completed as events occur.\r\nThe information is relevant because the concepts, theories, principles are described in terms of current events and issue faced by all. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The textbook is written in comprehensible, clear language that can be understood by college students. All terms are clearly defined as they are being discussed and many of the terms have real-world examples that are identifiable by all. Each chapter has takeaways, discussion questions,  and many re-enforceable summaries.\r\nEach chapter is introduced with a case, story or event and is related to concepts of previous chapters.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of topics, terminology, and framework. Each chapter ends the same: takeaways, discussion questions, etc. The chapter sections are labeled with the chapter number, followed by section objectives.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into chapter numbers and chapter sub-headings. Each sub-heading is numbered, labeled and objectives are included. The text chapters can be easily reorganized, however, it is currently arranged in consecutive order, based on relationships of principles. Some principles relate to other principles and some basic principles, discussed in the first chapter are referenced throughout the textbook.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in a consisted logical fashion. The basic topics are discussed in the first three chapters. The more detailed topics are discussed in later chapters. All of the principles are interconnected.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The textbook is free of interface issues. The navigation of the text is consistent throughout the 16 chapters. the charts and illustrations are clear and the explanations included relate to chapter concepts. The methods and events are described as they relate to economic principles.  As a reviewer, an outline of each chapter at the beginning of the chapter will be helpful.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Based on the reviewer's assessment. she did not detect grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. The author relates to many global issues that impact the US economy. Facts are presented as they happened and they are related to economics, especially macroeconomics issues.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Additional Comments/Recommendations\r\nI enjoyed reading this textbook because the authors connected events to concepts. The textbook was so interesting to read and the reviewer thinks students would be able to identify and understand the world of economics. \r\n1.\tThere are excellent examples in the textbook, however, more details are needed when formulas are used the information is summarized and interpretation, for example on p. 46-show how the author said there was a 4 % increase in GDP+ 6.25 %, GDP nominal increase 10 %. Explain the 4 %.\r\n2.\tCheck calculations- page 52\r\n3.\tExplain the word emigration and provide examples.\r\n4.\tCheck URL links-some are not working\r\n5.\tInclude the Table of Content at the beginning of the Text. The reviewer went to the Saylor site to find the outline of the 16 chapters.\r\n6.\tCheck formats: example p. 234 and others started a new paragraph without spacing or should the sentence have started in the preceding paragraph.\r\n7.\tChecking Your Understanding-Where are the solutions?\r\n\r\nI would adopt the textbook, with the development of some interactive activities to keep students engaged.","created_at":"2020-01-07T15:51:40.000-06:00","updated_at":"2020-01-07T15:51:40.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/macroeconomics-theory-through-applications","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:54.000-06:00"},{"id":191,"title":"Principles of Economics","edition_statement":"3e","volume":null,"copyright_year":2022,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"Principles of Economics 3e covers the scope and sequence of most introductory economics courses. The third edition takes a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts. The text uses conversational language and ample illustrations to explore economic theories, and provides a wide array of examples using both fictional and real-world scenarios. The third edition has been carefully and thoroughly updated to reflect current data and understanding, as well as to provide a deeper background in diverse contributors and their impacts on economic thought and analysis. For example, the third edition highlights the research and views of a broader group of economists. Brief references and deeply explored socio-political examples have been updated to showcase the critical – and sometimes unnoticed – ties between economic developments and topics relevant to students. A fuller list of changes made in Principles of Economics 3e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the third edition.","contributors":[{"id":3567,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steven","middle_name":"A.","last_name":"Greenlaw","location":"University of Mary Washington","background_text":""},{"id":5044,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"David","middle_name":"A.","last_name":"Shapiro","location":"Pennsylvania State University","background_text":""},{"id":5045,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Daniel","middle_name":null,"last_name":"MacDonald","location":"California State University, San Bernardino","background_text":""}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"},{"id":9,"name":"Social Sciences","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"H1","visible_textbooks_count":285,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences"}],"publishers":[{"id":111,"url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-economics-2e","year":2023,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-08-18T18:25:39.000-05:00","name":"OpenStax"}],"formats":[{"id":871,"type":"Online","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-economics-3e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":872,"type":"PDF","url":"https://assets.openstax.org/oscms-prodcms/media/documents/Economics3e-WEB.pdf?_gl=1*1iuyhmv*_ga*NDkwMDgzOTU4LjE2ODA1NDcwMjY.*_ga_T746F8B0QC*MTY4MjM0MjU1Ni4zLjEuMTY4MjM0MzUwMS42MC4wLjA.","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":873,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1738959279/","price":{"cents":4999,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1044,"type":"eBook","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-economics-2e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":11,"reviews":[{"id":122,"first_name":"Solina","last_name":"Lindahl","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"California Polytechnic State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book is very comprehensive, its inclusion of a richer discussion of international and policy issues is great.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I didn't detect bias, despite the inclusion of some fairly controversial topics that don't make it into other texts.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"I don't see any increase in difficulty of updating this vs. other texts.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Economics must always use some amount of jargon, but this text is clear.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Usage of the market model throughout is strong and consistent.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Very short and sweet.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The flow, although different than other texts, makes sense to me (and is superior)","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Nothing flashy, but it works.  I'd like the graphs to be less fragile looking (thin lines, light colors)","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No issues in my perusal.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Great international focus.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I think the focus on policy and current events is a great hook for nonmajor students.","created_at":"2014-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2014-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1206,"first_name":"Bill","last_name":"Burrows","position":"Economics Instructor","institution_name":"Lane Community College, Eugene,OR","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is a VERY comprehensive principles text. No Glossory :( but the eight-page-triple column index is very thorough and complete.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"While I haven't gone over this text with a fine-toothed comb (more of a broad brush), random check of various sections of multiple chapters stuck me as quite good in respect to accuracy and lack of bias. One \"gripe\" I have is that the name F.A. Hayek appears nowhere. Given the current political/economic climate, some reference to conservative approaches to macroeconomic policy would be relevant.  Other than that, pretty darn good presentation overall.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"OER texts often end up \"between a rock and a hard place\" on this issue.  Contemporary examples and references certainly make a text more relevant and interesting to students, but they also guarantee some impression of being outdatted in a few short years.  This assumes no regular re-writes or revisions of course, which is the norm with most OER texts.  But leaving out any references to current events can result in a text that seems bland and encyclopedic.  Dang, it's a difficult balance to achieve.  Ultimately, I suppose the onus falls on the user of the OER text to revise and revamp where needed/desired.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The task of making economic concepts and jargon inviting and readable is an onerous one.  Too much lilting prose and/or humor can strike some as unprofessional and lacking in depth, while a more staid and largely technical approach can be perceived as pedantic and arrogant (not to mention BORING!).  This text manages the balance between the two fairly often.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent.  Reading through the text left me with the impression that a stable of editors ruthlessly searched for and corrected any inconsistencies (indeed, there were over 40 reviewers). The overall \"package\" felt well-organized and consistent throughout. I suppose the greatest complement I could give is to point out that this text did not look, feel, or read like a generic OER text.  It gave the impression of a product that was produced by a well-financed college text publisher. Actually, that's at least partially the case, since Timothy Taylor's second ed. of Principles of Economics was heavily borrowed from when compiling this OER text.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Pretty darn good overall.  This is tough to do with an economic principles text, given that broad blocks of material build upon themselves, much like a language or math course. This text's modularity is thoroughly acceptable by my standards.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Super for the most part. Chapter 4, Labor and Financial Markets, felt like a bit of an interuption/distraction placed between Demand/Supply and Elasticity.  Pretty minor complaint and easily rectified by simply omitting or re-arranging a bit.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Gosh, nothing negative to point out on this topic.  Again, basing this OER text on an earlier second iteration of a free-market produced product likely pretty much eliminated these sorts of issues.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors sprang forth to my picky eyes","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Thanks for not making this the primary focus of the review. Having largely originated as a publisher-produced product being marketed to culturally sensitive public sector educators, I am confident it was properly and thoroughly vetted in this realm.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I suppose the most telling comment I could make is to remark that I will definitely be using this text as the primary OER reference in all my in-class Intro, Micro, and Macro Economics Principles courses.  I specify \"in-class\" because the publishing companies understandably still excel far beyond any OER text when it comes to online support and products.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2211,"first_name":"Tristan","last_name":"Coughlin","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook is extremely comprehensive. All of the traditional micro and macro topics that would be covered in a principles course are covered extensively. There are also many additional chapters that can be used as complements to complement and supplement the traditional material.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Principles of Economics is accurate and unbiased. I was impressed with the way that controversial topics such as environmental protection, poverty, and inequality are covered. Market-based and government-based solutions to common economic problems are presented with a fair presentation of the costs and benefits of each.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"The text is very relevant as there are discussions of various current economic topics. I'm happy to see that topics like the Keystone Pipeline are discussed. It will be difficult to update this text simply because it is so extensive. However, the theories behind the topics are presented in such that it will not be impossible.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"I was very impressed with the clarity of this text. Many complex economic topics are covered, and for the most part, they are explained at a basic undergraduate level. My only criticism is that words and phrases were often defined using a lot of technical terminology without extensive use of examples to supplement the definitions.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is very consistent. Each chapter is presented in the same format. The terminology was also very consistent. Since material builds on itself, consistency is very important. This text presents the material in a practical sequence that allows for sequential learning.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"The content of this text is presented in many small sections of information. Chapters can be easily rearranged. However, the modularity within chapters is such that it may be difficult for students to see how the material builds and is related to previous material. While it's good for a text to avoid being overly self-referential, this text goes a bit too far in that the material sometimes appears unrelated when it definitely is.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization and structure of this text is a point of strength. The text covers a very large amount of material, so the fact that there are many chapters is a plus. The chapters are logically structured, but they are divided in such a way that it is easy to rearrange material.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The book's interfaces is great. Graphs and charts are not overly complex. Economics texts often overdue it when it comes to graphing. While graphing is important, for principles students, it should be simplified as much as possible.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I didn't find this text to be culturally insensitive or offensive in any areas. Examples used and topics addressed are culturally inclusive and relevant.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is an excellent textbook. Economic theory principles are covered extensively, and there are a lot of supplementary and complementary topics. The material is up-to-date and it is presented in a way that gives the instructor a lot of flexibility in what, how, and when material is covered.","created_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-06-19T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2375,"first_name":"David","last_name":"Strauss","position":"Adjunct Lecturer/Dean of Students","institution_name":"Wayne State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I use the Open Stax Principles of Economics 2E.  It is fantastic!  It is comprehensive, current, and has a great resources.  It is far superior to any paid for textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Outstanding accuracy.  Perfect resource.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Because it is an open source, online book, it is kept very current.  Charts, graphs, references are on point.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I find it a very good resource for explaining the principles in a clear and relevant manner.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Excellent explanations.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I assign one chapter at a time.  They are very succinct and reasonable for a course by course assignment.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Sometimes I change up the order.  I find myself making reference to topics that come later in the book, so I try to present the fundamentals first.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Very easy to use on multiple platforms.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"None that I have found.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"It covers this topic well.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I think the open stax textbook is fantastic and see no reason why any class is not using this and instead is using an expensive publisher book.","created_at":"2018-11-11T12:43:02.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-11-11T12:43:02.000-06:00"},{"id":3097,"first_name":"Chris","last_name":"Marmé","position":"Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text includes far more than what could be included in a two semester sequence of micro and macro.  Chapters on international trade, environmental economics, poverty and inequality, and many others are included.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found no inaccuracies in this text.  ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"By and large the content is fairly up to date.  However, since Jerome Powell has been chair of the FED since February of 2018  the profile of former chair, Janet Yellen, in chapter 28 needs to be replaced.  The text presents Yellen as the current chair and expresses optimism in her prospects!","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Key concepts are usually followed by a sentence or two that -in as simple of terms as possible-highlights the significance of that topic.  For example, in chapter 6, after going through the equimarginal principle the choice to purchase and consume more of an item because the buyer is getting \"more bang for the buck\".  These things may seem obvious to us but are incredibly value for students struggling to see what the key point of what they are reading.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of both terminology and its framework.  Each chapter begins with a bring it home section presenting a a key question that chapter will address and finishes the chapter with a discussion of that topic in terms of the content of that chapter.  Each chapter ends with a summary of key concepts and the chapter overall.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"\r\nI can easily see picking and choosing chapters and using them in whatever order I see fit.\r\n","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"To a certain degree there is little scope for creativity in a principles text in terms of how to sequence topics.  For example, production possibilities, opportunity cost, and the supply and demand model must be discussed early in the term,  Each chapter is well organized beginning with a problem that by the end of the chapter the reader should be able to address more deeply .  There are also sections that  link topics to relevant examples, clarify difficult concepts, and work through more technical material in a step by step manner.  ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I had some difficulty with the interface.  The text has convenient links to terms, topics, diagrams, and tables referred to earlier.  Such links are also found in the index. Once done reviewing the reader is left on her own to find out where she was in the text.  I developed a strategy that, after a while, worked.  I simply went to the table of contents and clicked on what I remembered was the section I had been reading.  I think many students will find this frustrating however.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors in the text.\r\n\r\n","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"This is an area of concern.  Chapter 2 ends with a discussion of pursuing a  college or post-graduate degree.  The authors suggest that some who fail to go beyond high school simply choose not to borrow the money needed to fund their education.  This implies that all of us have equal access to credit. They go on to suggest that the decision to not borrow might reflect a preference to earn now and to enjoy oneself now.  This plays into the notion that many who are poor simply have difficulty delaying gratification.  I am sure that this is not the authors' intent but I sat there reading this asking myself how I would interpret this if I were a first generation college student. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2019-07-16T14:29:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-07-16T14:29:36.000-05:00"},{"id":33451,"first_name":"Bekah","last_name":"Selby","position":"Assistant Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Emporia State University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I would actually give this a 4.5. It is fairly comprehensive. It is becoming outdated - especially in concepts of how the Fed conducts monetary policy in the modern era. This would require a revision of the chapters covering these concepts. I utilize this book for a principles of economics (EC 101: Basic Economics) which covers most of the main areas of the principles courses in one semester. I find this resource to be more than sufficient for most content.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"There are occasional typos or misspellings, but I have found few errors. The content does appear to be unbiased and does a decent job at representation across gender, race, and ethnicity in the problems and examples.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"There are a lot of \"Bring it Home\" sections which quickly become dated or are already outdated (e.g. the discussion on Amazon in Ch 11). I think these sections are important, but it should be a consideration.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I think the writing is very clear and coherent. I rarely (if ever) have to reword the discussion to help students understand the material.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Absolutely. This text flows well from one chapter to the next, has consistent expectation of formatting and structure, and the terms are used correctly throughout.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is organized into similarly structured \"chapters\" which flow like a module: an intro, concepts, key terms, practice/assessment. This works well with modules in my course.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"This text gives the standard micro to macro transition from topic to topic. It is like many other textbooks (OER or otherwise) in topic organization.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I have had no issues with the interface. The URLs always seem to work and the platform is easy to navigate. They have added additional features like note-taking that makes the reading a bit more enjoyable.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I have noticed a few minor errors, but they do not detract from the quality of the content.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"It does tend to be very United States-centric, but there are chapters and some sections that do expand on other global issues.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I think it is a very comprehensive text and the OpenStax framework is very advanced. I highly recommend the text. One drawback, I would like to add, is a lack of interactive graphs that some textbooks have begun to implement.","created_at":"2021-11-05T15:42:09.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-11-05T15:42:09.000-05:00"},{"id":34030,"first_name":"Ted","last_name":"Scheinman","position":"Instructor in Economics","institution_name":"Mt. Hood Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook includes the standard topics that are taught in a Principles of Economics Course;  it even covers some of my pet topics!  It is a complete textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I have not found errors in the textbook - there are updates to the textbook regularly.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Since this book has a 2017 publishing date (but with regular updates) it does not include some of the recent events and lessons learned from Covid and the subsequent impacts on the economy.  Of course, that is what I use digital newspapers!\r\n\r\nI  have heard rumors about a major revision coming, but have not been able to identify when this will occur.  Sooner rather than later, I  hope.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Students report that it is easy to read and interesting.  Student reviews are more appropriate for this topic than instructor's reviews, as we can easily miss some confusing language.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"It seems as though the material flows from one chapter to another, without changes in language (which I have seen in some commercial textbooks).","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"As I review this book, I am able to identify smaller parts of the chapters for concentration.  It may require page numbers to assign readings.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"It flows mostly the way I would like to teach a class.  There are some chapters that plan to offer in a different order, but this does not seem to be a problem (other than students not reading a syllabus).","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No problems identified.  Several years of corrections have probably fixed any issues.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I haven't identified any major grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I have not seen specific attention to correctness in the textbook.  I can't tell if that is because my own cultural diversity awareness.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This textbook should be a contender with most commercial ventures, but has the advantage of multiple people providing information.  I recommend it highly for a school or professor who wants to reduce the financial barriers of some commercial textbooks.  I prefer it to many of the orphan author's recycled textbooks.  \r\nI would like to see better supplements to the textbook and an updated testbank, with an ability to use a testing program.\r\nLastly, it is definitely time for a new edition!!","created_at":"2022-09-06T10:32:59.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-09-06T10:32:59.000-05:00"},{"id":34044,"first_name":"Billy","last_name":"Lemus","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Lewis-Clark State College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book covers all of the topics that are covered in a typical micro and macroeconomics course. The book also includes chapters that could easily be assigned to further explore the concepts presented. The glossary is effective but there are a couple of important definitions missing.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Economic concepts are accurate and error free. Examples used are presented in an unbiased way.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Economic theory is mostly up to date and content is current up to at least 2020. The pandemic's effects on many of economic concepts and the FED's ever-evolving monetary policy decisions will require major revisions sooner rather than later.  That being stated, updates should be easy and straightforward to implement.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"A little bit hard to follow at times. A few sentences are slightly confusing.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Terminology in text a little less direct and clear than glossary definition.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections. Sections themselves are concise and easy to understand.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Organized logically. Learning objectives at the start of each section help to keep the structure of the presented information predictable.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Some broken links.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains little to no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is a great resource that is similar to publisher produced content. The text is easily accessible and has great and relevant examples. Resources available for Canvas (quizzes, discussions), as well as self-check problems within the text, provide opportunities for added practice.","created_at":"2022-09-13T23:33:58.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-09-13T23:33:58.000-05:00"},{"id":34547,"first_name":"Hannah","last_name":"Apps","position":"Professor","institution_name":"Kalamazoo College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all the basics that are typically found in any principles of economics text plus some interesting final chapters on information, financial markets, and present value.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate and unbiased.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Some of the examples may become obsolete but that is the nature of an economics text.  However, the supplemental material contributed through the commons will always be updated.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Text is easy to read.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"You could put this text next to any other principles text and see no difference in framework or terminology.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This is one of the things I like the best.  It would be easy to create modules using other resources as well.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Standard organization","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The different formats are great.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"none","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I think it is fine.  It has the same feel as almost every other intro economics text --- neoclassical based on the US experience but that can be augmented.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I'm going to try using it next year.","created_at":"2023-05-09T18:45:21.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-05-09T18:45:21.000-05:00"},{"id":34571,"first_name":"Ryan","last_name":"Rudderham","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"DePauw University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook contains all the relevant topics that I would include in a one-semester long Principles of Economics course.  It could also be used in a two semester Principles of Micro, Principles of Macro sequence.  Each topic is discussed and explored at a depth appropriate for an intro-level course.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The textbook is accurate, and I would be comfortable recommending this as a resource to my students.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook is up-to-date, and the theories used are in line with the mainstream treatment of Principles of Economics.  It explores the economic impart of the Covid-19 pandemic in multiple places, which is relevant to today's students.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Overall, the textbook is clear.  However, given that this text will often be used by first-year students, I feel like it could be a bit more concise.  This would improve its readability and therefore its usefulness.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text uses consistent definitions throughout.  The framework is logical and builds in a steady, progressive way.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I appreciate the modularity of this text, especially for a one-semester principles course because it economizes on some chapters.  For instance, it treats Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly together in one chapter.  I find I can only cover one of these in depth in a one-semester course.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook is well organized.  There are helpful in-text recurring segments like \"Clear it up\" in which more details are given about challenging topics.  The resources at the end of each chapter are consistent and help promote retention.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The graphs and data visualizations are a bit less polished than those in some proprietary books.  This is usually not a problem, however, some depictions of the models such as the depictions of Monopolistic Competition in 10.1 should be reworked.  They are not inaccurate, but very hard to interpret.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook treats important social issues like inequality in a factual and careful way.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I am working towards changing over to an open textbook.  I would strongly consider using this book in my courses.","created_at":"2023-05-22T14:14:27.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-05-22T14:14:27.000-05:00"},{"id":35500,"first_name":"Evan","last_name":"Kresch","position":"Associate Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Oberlin College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook covers nearly all of the topics I assign in an introductory economics course (and then some!). Some of the chapters I would not have time to get to in a semester (Poverty, Risk, Globalization,...), but I appreciate that they are included in the textbook and can be referenced for additional reading to students who are interested. I wish there were deeper dives into utility (showing indifference curves), a whole chapter on taxes (instead of an an extension of elasticity), a more wholistic discussion of externalities instead of breaking it up into two different cases. These are fairly minor complaints, though, and I think this book is as good of a resource as any of the textbooks that I have assigned in the past.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I appreciated the unbiased and dispassionate approach to discussing controversial topics - especially for an introductory class where students may be coming in with some fairly strong priors and normative frameworks.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The \"Bring it Home\" sections have a potential to become dated fairly quickly. This is a pitfall of a lot of intro economic textbooks though, and the authors seem committed to updating the examples fairly regularly between additions, given that they've committed to this approach.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The writing is very clear. In my experience, this is one of the better intro textbooks in terms of explaining the concepts and definitions without getting bogged down in jargon. I appreciate that the authors bolded the important terms and placed the definitions in the back of the chapter - as opposed to the margins of the relevant page - so as to not clutter the text for students reading these ideas for the first time.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent both in tone and the degree of difficulty across the wide array of broad and different topics one comes across in an introductory economics class.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters are well contained and can easily be assigned in a different order to match the structure of my syllabus. Each chapter is fairly short, so even if I don't cover everything from the textbook, my students can easily pick out the relevant parts of each chapter and how they relate to lecture.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I really appreciate introductory economics textbooks that start with supply and demand instead of comparative advantage and trade. The micro section of the book is structured in a clear and coherent way. (I would have moved externalities right after elasticity, but I can see that the authors are going for an \"additional material\" feel for it.) I thought the macro side was less clearly organized, however. It makes more sense to me to introduce fiscal and monetary policy *before* the AS-AD model, rather than the other way around. That way, students can have a fuller discussion of how to use the AS-AD model to analyze policy. In the same vein, I was a little confused why \"International Trade and Capital Flows\" is eight chapters before the material on international economics. Since most intro classes that teach AS-AD abstract to a closed economy, I think the ordering as is can be quite confusing for the students.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There is a tricky balancing act between including enough information in a graph to make it useful without making it too cluttered. In general I think the authors did a great job with the graphs. However, some of the graphs could have benefitted from a rescaling (for example, Figure 4.2 or the cost curve diagrams) in order to make the figure clearer. While going for accurate scaling, a lot of the figures became \"scrunched\" and difficult to interpret. It would have been nice to have thicker lines and even different colors for the different curves (especially in the firm theory sections), but I can appreciate that the authors are trying to go for a uniform style.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any significant grammatical errors or issues with readability.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Like most introductory textbooks, the examples are US-centric. I didn't see this as an issue and will likely help students at US institutions connect more with the material. The examples have a potential to become dated, but the authors seem to be doing a great job of refreshing the textbook periodically to keep it current.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"On par with the myriad of other introductory economics textbooks I have assigned in my course. This is a welcome addition to my syllabus.","created_at":"2025-05-30T09:50:26.000-05:00","updated_at":"2025-05-30T09:50:26.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-economics-191","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:12:11.000-06:00"},{"id":192,"title":"Principles of Macroeconomics","edition_statement":"3e","volume":null,"copyright_year":2017,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"Principles of Macroeconomics 3e covers the scope and sequence of most one semester introductory macroeconomics courses. The third edition takes a balanced approach to the theory and application of macroeconomics concepts. The text uses conversational language and ample illustrations to explore economic theories, and provides a wide array of examples using both fictional and real-world scenarios. The third edition has been carefully and thoroughly updated to reflect current data and understanding, as well as to provide a deeper background in diverse contributors and their impacts on economic thought and analysis. For example, the third edition highlights the research and views of a broader group of economists. Brief references and deeply explored socio-political examples have also been updated to showcase the critical – and sometimes unnoticed – ties between economic developments and topics relevant to students. A fuller list of changes made in Principles of Macroeconomics 3e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the third edition.","contributors":[{"id":3564,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steven","middle_name":"A.","last_name":"Greenlaw","location":"Fredericksburg, Virginia","background_text":"Senior Contributing Authors Steven A. Greenlaw, University of Mary Washington"},{"id":5046,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"David","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Shapiro","location":"Centre County, Pennsylvania","background_text":"David Shapiro, Pennsylvania State University"},{"id":5047,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Timothy","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Taylor","location":"Saint Paul, Minnesota","background_text":"Timothy Taylor, Macalester College"}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"},{"id":9,"name":"Social Sciences","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"H1","visible_textbooks_count":285,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences"}],"publishers":[{"id":100,"url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-macroeconomics-2e","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-17T15:56:41.000-05:00","name":"OpenStax"}],"formats":[{"id":558,"type":"Online","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-macroeconomics-3e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":559,"type":"PDF","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-macroeconomics-3e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":560,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A1540JPBBI3F06\u0026merchant=A1540JPBBI3F06\u0026qid=1517336719","price":{"cents":3350,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":4855,"type":"Audiobook","url":"https://audileo.com/openstax-principles-of-macroeconomics-3e-audiobook/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":18,"reviews":[{"id":560,"first_name":"Ling","last_name":"Shao","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Miami University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I find this book to be very thorough in the subject matter. Compared to a few textbooks that I am familiar with (e.g., the ones by Mankiw, by Krugman/Wells, and by Frank/Bernanke), it includes substantial coverage on international economics as well as all the basic macro components. I very much appreciate the fact that the book provides a nice global perspective. If there is one small section that could be added, I would consider an introduction to finance, given the increasing importance of the financial system in the macro economy.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"In a few chapters that I have read carefully from beginning to end, I find the contents to be largely accurate. I did discover a few typos here and there, especially with graphs. For instance, Figure 12.11 on page 310 one of the arrows is in the wrong direction. Figure 13.2 on page 318 does not really match up with the in-text description. On page 454 “...Recall from Unemployment...” should be replaced by “...Recall from Economic Growth...” instead. Given the amount of work and the number of authors involved in developing the book, it is understandable to have a few errors. I would like to remind any potential user of the textbook to watch out for possible typos.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This book will be able to stay relevant for a while. Updating textbook examples and data is relatively easy given the wide availability of macro data.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"I find that for the most part the book is written in a clear manner and uses some very interesting analogies and examples to aid in explanations. One thing I did notice in the few chapters that I have gone through thoroughly is that at times the text is presented in a colloquial way. It reminds you more of an instructor talking in class than reading a textbook. This book also introduces some pretty novel terminologies, such as Macroeconomic Externality, Keynes's Law, etc.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"I don’t see any problems with the internal consistency of the book’s terminology and framework in a big-picture sense. A minor confusion arises when the opening chapter (Chapter 6) states three macroeconomic goals but in Chapter 11 you find that it mentions four goals. This should be readily fixed, though.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This book has done an excellent job breaking up a chapter into manageable sections. I especially like the way that learning objectives are clearly spelled out at the beginning of each section.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I would say that organization of various macro topics in this textbook is very different from the textbooks that I am familiar with (e.g., the ones by Mankiw, by Krugman/Wells, and by Frank/Bernanke). If I were to switch to this textbook, I foresee that I need to spend some time getting used to the new structure. It is not really a matter of good or bad, but if you have a strong preference for routine, you may want to think about re-arranging some chapters.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I find this book to be very easy to use with bookmarks and hyperlinks. It has exceeded my expectations about a free digital book in terms of its interface. I also like the feature of using QR codes for some real-world applications. It should be very appealing to students.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"Overall the book is very well-written. From those chapters that I have sampled, there are very few grammatical errors. There are no major mistakes to have an impact on reader comprehension.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I find the book to be culturally appropriate. It takes noticeable efforts to cover macroeconomic issues faced by developing as well as developed nations.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1096,"first_name":"Sarah","last_name":"Jenyk","position":"Insructor","institution_name":"Youngstown State University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is thorough and covers areas expected from a Principles of Macroeconomics textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is free from errors or bias and presents the material in an accurate manner.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The book includes data and examples that are current and relevant.","clarity_rating":2,"clarity_review":"Compared to other principles textbooks, this text is not as accessible to students.  The text might be intimidating for a principles student in terms of its delivery of the content.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The chapters are presented in a consistent manner, with subsections and key terms at the end of each chapter.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The chapters contain several subsections and the material is divided among chapters in an appropriate manner.","organization_rating":2,"organization_review":"The organization and flow of the text, as presented, is unusual.  Although economics is defined in Chapter 1, the term opportunity cost is not introduced until Chapter 2.  Chapter 2 also contains budget constraints and marginal utility analysis, which is unusual for a macro book.  Chapters 4 \u0026amp; 5 also seem out of place for a principles of macro text.  Chapter 10 is titled \"The International Trade and Capital Flows\", and Chapter 20 is titled \"International Trade\" - there is some redundancy there.  Chapters 10  and 16 seem out of place in their current position and would fit better in the section on international economics (Chapters 19-21).","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There are no interface issues that I experienced while reviewing the text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The book is free from grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"The book meets a satisfactory level of cultural relevance.","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1551,"first_name":"Elizabeth","last_name":"Porter","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"UNC Asheville","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers as many (if not more) topics and concepts than the majority of principles texts currently available.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The text's content is both accurate and relevant.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The text uses practical examples of core concepts which are relevant, and not \"hokey\" or dated. Overall the examples used in the text should be relatable to a broad audience. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text does a good job presenting clear and relevant explanations of core economic terms and concepts.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text's chapters are well designed and balanced.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"This is the one aspect of the text that I recommend adapting. Several of the chapters have more content than I would prefer to cover in one of two class sessions. Some chapters could be split into multiple modules, or divided into chapters with appendices.  ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Overall the text's organization and layout is on par with the majority of texts on the market, with a logical and practical framework.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is extremely easy to access, both online and through download.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text's mechanics (spelling, punctuation, and grammar) are absolutely up to industry standard.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text presents a variety of examples from different perspectives. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"All in all, I am impressed with the quality of the text. The only difference I would like to see is more \"bite sized\" chapters, especially for use in principles courses where the majority of students are first-year students.","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1726,"first_name":"Shirin ","last_name":"Sabetghadam","position":"Professional Lecturer","institution_name":"The American University ","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook is very comprehensive and covers most of the topics in an introductory macroeconomics courses. The index is attached to each chapter and the book is very well organized. \n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":" I could not find any typo in the parts that I reviewed. It seems to be free of error. \n","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The examples and data in the textbook are up to date and as time goes by, it is easy to up to date the data given in the textbook. \n","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is clear and can be easily followed. However, there are some parts that can be a bit confusing for a reader. For example, in the part that authors try to explain “expansionary fiscal policy”, they also talk about “contractionary fiscal policy”; which is redundant from my perspective, while it has its own section.   \n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"In terms of terminology and notations the textbook is consistent.   \n","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is very well divisible into small sections. Each section starts with the overview of the section and has a learning goal. What I like about this book is that some sections have “link it up” part that can be linked to the video related to the topic covered in the section.    \n","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook is organized in a good and logical fashion. Most of the topics covered in the text and their sequence is similar to the text that I am using for this course. \n","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Overall, the books interface is in a good condition. The only issue that I am concern about is the shape of graphs that could be more professional and bolder. They look a bit blurry. \n","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I have found few grammatical error while reading the text which is given the length of the textbook is acceptable. In general, the text is written very well. \n","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The authors tried to provide examples from all over the World. But most of the examples are addressed US economy.   ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":2320,"first_name":"Joseph","last_name":"Schoen","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"MnSCU","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers the major content areas expected to be covered in a Principle of Macroeconomics course and more. The index and the glossary are satisfactory and are just as good as those found in other textbooks. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is as accurate and free of errors as any other textbook in this topic.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook is up to date and does not seem to have any big longevity issues.  Like most Macroeconomic texts, current statistics are referenced that will need to be updated regularly (unemployment numbers, historical inflation, etc.), but these updates should be accomplished with relative ease.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"When thinking of other Macroeconomic textbooks I have used or look at, this one does not seem to be as accessible as others, but the difference is not substantial.  Context is given to economic concepts discussed throughout the book, helping to motivate the topics.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"A strong point of the textbook.  The layout of the textbook is consistent in its chapter structures.  Students will rather quickly know where to look in a chapter for additional resources (list of key terms, self check questions, etc.) and what to expect in these resources.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The textbook topics are divided up in an appropriate matter.  It would be easy for an instructor to pick and choose the areas of the textbook that they would, or wouldn't, want to cover in their course.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"For the most part, the textbook has a logical presentation in terms of the order of the topics.  There were a couple of situations that the ordering of the topics seemed off.  It would have made more since to have covered Fiscal Policy at an earlier point in the textbook and to have moved the topic of exchange rates and international capital flows to later in the book by international trade.  Luckily the textbook is divided in a way that makes it easy to jump to different chapters.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"The textbook is easy to navigate.  The big issue I see with the textbook though is the quality of the graphs within it.  Graphs are relied upon heavily at this level of Macroeconomics, yet the graphs in the textbook are rather dull in color and not vibrant.  Bolder lines and increased color contrast in the graphs would greatly improve the textbook.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Very few grammatical errors were found within the textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook was not found to be culturally insensitive or offensive.  ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall thorough textbook.  The flow of the book might seem a little off in some instances, but overall the layout and material covered is appropriate for a Macroeconomics course.  It would be nice to see more vibrant/professional looking graphs in the future.","created_at":"2018-09-26T15:06:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-26T15:06:38.000-05:00"},{"id":3261,"first_name":"Peter","last_name":"Mikek","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Wabash College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all main macroeconomic topics and expands into introductory exposition of money and banking and international economics. Additionally, some applications to labor and finance are offered. Beyond the usual treatment of the principles textbooks, this text introduces the distinction between Keynesian and Neoclassical perspectives. All usual pedagogical tool, such as boxes for fostering critical thinking, links to numerous to \"real world\" illustrations (here through QR codes), key concepts, various questions to verify understanding at the end of the chapters, an index at the end of the book, are provided.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I find the book accurate and like ample examples for frequently abstract concepts. I noticed no errors and think that the book largely avoided substantial biases present in current policy making.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"While the text is very much up to date, examples in all macro books have to be updated periodically. Some, like those from the Great Depression, for example, can serve long run. However, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this the need to provide new examples and would be very surprised if the teachers themselves could not supplement their textbooks with the relevant daily events associated with their classes. This may be a bit more difficult for chapters like Macroeconomic policy around the world. However, while super interesting, this comparison is not absolutely necessary for good grasp of the material. Additionally, I imagine that the authors will periodically update the necessary parts.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is clear both in their explicit spelling of learning objectives and in exposition of material in verbal and graphical form. The authors managed very well the trade-off between the field jargon and accessibility of the text.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"I found no issues with consistency. Terminology is nicely slowly built and used throughout the text in a consistent manner. This is true also for standard notation for macro variables.  The use of \"boxes' with additional information and practice is appropriately scattered throughout the text. Additional element of formal consistency is the end of chapter material with summaries, questions, and problems.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"While the book provides some room for modularity, I wish this was strengthened. There is a lot of material to cover in principles and I inevitably find myself in need to cut some parts of the material. It would be nice to wrap the international elements into its own module. Similarly, I would like to see the text devoted to finance and banking  in a separate module that would allow for brief introduction for some classes and delving deeper into the material for others.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Material is extremely nicely organized within chapters. The text is interspersed with \"Clear It Up,\" \"Link It Up,\" \"Work It Out,\" and \"Bring it Home\" boxes. they are great additions to the text providing practice, clarification, connections to examples from every day life, and solidifying the knowledge. The end of chapters offer the usual key terms, summary, and questions. Also, the whole book follows a very good organizational  pattern that is usual in such books. After brief introduction of  (absolutely basic) micro topics it follows with intro to macro variables, growth, business cycle and ends with policy and international. One of the strengths of the text are solutions for some problems at the end of the book. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I am very impressed with the interface. It is very easy to navigate through the material. Besides the table of contents there is also a drop down menu to move between chapters.  The graphs are clear and very well labelled. Numerical examples are frequently in the form of tables. Color pictures accompany text as illustrations. I find it very attractive.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I find no problems withe the language and grammar.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"There is a broad cultural specter included in the book. This is particularly obvious in \"international\" chapter, such as in chapter 19: Macroeconomic Policy Around the World. Various races and lifestyles are adequately and respectfully included in the text. For example, the chapter on unemployment clearly indicates the racial gaps related to unemployment.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I like this book a lot and am very likely to adopt it next time I teach Principles of Macro.","created_at":"2019-11-05T17:49:31.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-11-05T17:49:31.000-06:00"},{"id":3684,"first_name":"Hyeon Joon","last_name":"Shin","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Anderson University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook thoroughly and comprehensively covers all the macroeconomics topics at the “Principles” level that college economics professors are supposed to teach. This textbook has a couple of interesting features that make it differentiated from other similar textbooks that I have used. First, this text treats the topics in macroeconomic policy very importantly and focuses a lot on the policy implications of each topic. I really love this feature. I think that macroeconomics is, by nature, policy-oriented and was invented as an attempt to understand economic fluctuations and to find possible policy treatments for them. I hope that other macroeconomic textbooks would focus more on the policy perspective like this text. Second, this textbook assigns two chapters to explain and distinguish between the Keynesian perspective and the neoclassical perspective in a very balanced manner. I also love this feature. Unfortunately, however, this in-depth analysis of the two perspectives is more than enough for business students (not economics majors) to study. Third, this textbook contains substantial coverage on the international dimensions of economics, such as international trade, international finance, and globalization.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I find the contents of this textbook very accurate. In particular, this textbook pursues content accuracy in a way that unbiasedly shows various views on a controversial topic. For example, it has been very controversial which one between the Keynesian perspective and the neoclassical perspective better explains modern macroeconomic issues, and this textbook makes a quite smooth and unbiased transition from one to the other by mentioning the strength and weakness of each perspective. Also, this text, when it explains the concept of economic convergence, shows both the arguments for and against the existence of economic convergence. The unbiased and balanced feature is what I love the most about this textbook.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"All the contents and data in this textbook are very much up to date. This textbook has a lot of recent real-world examples. It also contains a lot of hyperlinks that directly connect the textbook and recent research findings. When it comes to longevity, the length of each chapter is moderately 30 pages long on average. But, as a whole, this text is too long to be covered for one semester. A typical college semester is usually defined as 15 weeks long, and this text has 21 chapters. This means that instructors have to hurry up to cover more than one chapter per week or inevitably cut off some supplementary parts of the contents.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text nicely and clearly presents all the information. The authors offer the “Key Terms” section at the end of each chapter. This definitely helps students who take their first economics class better understand economic jargon. The textbook is interspersed with “Clear It Up,” “Link It Up,” “Work It Out,” and “Bring It Home” boxes. They are also great additions to improve the clarity and readability of the text. I think this test is targeted at students with a basic background in economics at the “Survey” level. It seems to be a little hard for beginners with no economics background to read.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I could not find any issues with consistency. The authors do not rush into things they want to teach but slowly build necessary terminologies first and then consistently use them to explain the things. The notations used are also consistent across the chapters and are the same as those used in other textbooks.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"As mentioned in the “Relevance/Longevity” section, the text is too long to be covered for one semester because it consists of 21 chapters. I think that Instructors often need to cut some supplementary contents and consider an alternate sequence of the covered contents. Fortunately, the modularity of this textbook allows the instructors to smoothly exclude some supplementary chapters from their course curriculum and makes the content sequence flexible without any trouble even though all the chapters are not written completely independently.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"I have mixed feelings about the structure of this text. I really love the way that the authors placed the applications of the supply-demand model to labor markets and financial markets right after the introduction to the supply-demand model. This unique flow guarantees consistency and is really helpful for students to understand that the supply-demand model well explains the market mechanism and thus can be applied to any existing market. Nevertheless, this text’s organizational pattern leaves a little to be desired. First, the topics in economic fluctuations (the business cycle) are dispersed in many chapters. I think it would be better if the authors could assign a stand-alone chapter to those topics. Second, the chapter for international finance (Chapter 16) is separated from other international economics chapters. I think It might be better if the authors could get them all together.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The interface of this text is quite good. It is fairly easy to access and navigate when students read it online. The line length for text on a webpage is ideal, which is making it as easy as possible for students to read online. Students can immediately have access to other related texts or external information by clinking on the hypertexts in the textbook. My only concern about the interface is poor graphical representation. A “Principles” level course heavily relies on the graphical representation of economic theories. As other reviewers mentioned, however, all the graphs are created mainly with a single color of pale blue, which looks dull and thus cannot catch the eyes of readers.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is well written grammatically. I found no grammatical errors in the text.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I feel that the authors try hard to explain each topic from different cultural perspectives. I found the text to be culturally unbiased and fair. I love the idea that the author assigns the whole chapter to introduce macroeconomic policy around the world (Chapter 19). In Chapter 19, for example, the authors introduce us to three foreign examples from South Africa, India, Spain when they discuss youth unemployment.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"To summarize, this open and free textbook is very comparable to any other popular commercial textbooks and is far better than them in some aspects. I am very likely to adopt it and strongly recommend it to other instructors.","created_at":"2020-03-27T11:47:56.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-03-27T11:47:56.000-05:00"},{"id":3999,"first_name":"Shengnan","last_name":"Fang","position":"Full-time faculty","institution_name":"Linn-Benton Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook not only covers the major content for principles level class, but also introduces chapters related to the impact of government borrowings, international trade and globalization and protectionism. The index is hyperlinked, which is useful and efficient to locate the chapter accurately. Each chapter begins with a real world economic example or question in \"Bring it Home\" section, and it also ends with a detail explanations related to the examples or questions in \"Bring it Home\". This layout is efficient and helpful for students to catch up the application of the chapter content. Key terms, concepts and summary at the end of each chapter are also useful to help student better catch the main points.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate. However, I want to point out that the graphs in Chapter 3 of Demand and Supply are little bit messy, especially on Page 53. The students might be confused to see the graph at the first time. In my opinion, it might be not necessary to put all the dots on the graph, and the numbers of arrows are more than needed. And this also shows on Page 48 and 49. You have already shown the demand schedule and supply schedule in tables, it might be much clearer to show two dots on the graph to explain how to draw the curves.\r\nI think it might be a good idea to switch Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. After introducing Chapter 3, it might be consistent for the students to learn about elasticity, rather than introduce labor and financial markets.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This book's content will stay up-to-date for while. And the examples at the beginning of each chapter is pretty attractive and relevant to the topic.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Overall, the text is written in lucid and accessible prose. But I still want to point out the layout of Chapter 3. It might be better to move Figure 3.2 on Page 48 to Page 47, which is easier to student to understand how to draw a demand curve based on the demand schedule. At the end of Page 51, it might be better to move the title 3.2 to next page. Too many pairs of price and quantity in graphs of Chapter 3 might be a little bit messy.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"There are 21 chapters in this textbook. I think it might be a little bit lengthy for my students. Chapter 18 is related to the government borrowing and I think it might be reasonable to put this chapter as a topic in Chapter 17, where it introduces government fiscal policies.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"Each chapter is well organized. I like the \"Introduction\" at the beginning of each chapter. It highlights the questions needed to understand and gives me a guideline to go through the content. However,  Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 can be combined together as an introduction of Economics. Chapter 10 introduces The International Trade and Capital Flows, and Chapter 20 also talks about International Trade, which might makes students confused about the differences in these two chapters.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Download the textbook online is easy and the hyperlinks and QR codes in \"Link It Up\" section work well.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I cannot recall any grammatical errors in the textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I think there is no culturally offensive content.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"As an instructor to community college students, I think the content of this textbook is up-to-date and easy to go through. However, for macroeconomics, I think 21 chapters might be lengthy for my students. For the section of \"Link-It-Up\", it might be better to put more video (less than 4 mins) to catch students' attention and improve their engagement.","created_at":"2020-06-17T13:16:54.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-17T13:16:54.000-05:00"},{"id":4088,"first_name":"Jennifer","last_name":"Elias","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Radford University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"As with most textbooks, there were more chapters than instructors can cover in one class.  I used the book last semester and assigned 12 chapters - not all of them the complete chapters.   Some instructors might want more discussion of stock markets but I didn't miss it.  That said, I would have liked a more technical treatment of price controls and taxes and subsidies.  There is not enough discussion and deadweight loss is mentioned but there is no calculation given.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I found the content to be accurate, mostly error-free, and unbiased - if anything the chapters comparing the different schools of thought are too much additional information.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Usually, I prefer books that make less of an attempt to be \"current\" because they quickly become dated.  For example, the Great Recession no longer seems as relevant as it did 5-7 years ago.  In this case, the authors do use the Great Recession as an example in several instances but it's possible to work around that (especially if you skip the chapters on different schools of thought.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The prose is clear and there is limited jargon.  Some of the chapters are a little lengthy (The Supply and Demand Chapter is *really* long) for principles students but the language itself is fine and instructors can break up the chapters into smaller sections pretty easily.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text was internally consistent.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Although several of the chapters are too long, it is easy to assign parts of them as they are not completely interdependent.  I had a bigger problem with skipping the chapters on Keynesian and Neoclassical perspective but there simply wasn't enough time.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"The organization presented the greatest challenge for me in adapting this book to my existing course structure.  The first chapter did not really present the building blocks of economics.  It includes economies of scale and underground economies but doesn't mention incentives or opportunity costs.  The next chapter touches lightly on trade but really focuses in on consumer choice, including budget constraints and utility.  This would seem more appropriate for a micro class.  Trade (comparative and absolute advantage) doesn't come up again until Chapter 20.  As mentioned above, the discussion on price controls in very limited while there is an entire chapter devoted to elasticity.  Nonetheless, all of these problems are completely manageable.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The interface worked well.  I didn't love the font but that's extremely subjective.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I don't remember any grammatical errors (or at least no glaring ones).","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find the book to be culturally insensitive.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"My students seemed to like this book and I found it easy to work with.  The part that I found most problematic was the way the AS/AD model was presented using \"Say's Law\" and \"Keynes' Law.\"  There were too many curves for most principles students to consider, in my opinion.","created_at":"2020-06-25T17:04:42.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-25T17:04:42.000-05:00"},{"id":4752,"first_name":"Gabriel","last_name":"Mathy","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"American University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers all the topics one would want to cover in a principles of macroeconomics book.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"There are some issues with the history of thought in the first chapter. Adam Smith was not the first to begin the formal study of economics! But these are not serious and many textbooks have these issues.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Many good up-to-date examples.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is very clear.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent throughout.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The chapters fit together but the modularity could be better.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book is well organized.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The interface is fine, though it looks homemade and not professionally typeset.  For a free book that's not surprising!","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I saw no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book seems culturally sensitive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Figures look to be made on a home computer in Microsoft Word. But overall I liked it a lot! Much better than most books that cost hundreds of dollars.","created_at":"2021-04-09T13:23:08.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-04-09T13:23:08.000-05:00"},{"id":5121,"first_name":"Mohammad","last_name":"Idrees","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Holyoke Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book delivered the basic subject of macroeconomics comprehensively for 101 Economics courses without a flavor of symmetrically commercial textbook fan fair","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book covers the material accurately for introductory economics course","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"No change in the fundamentals and principles of economics since the year 1877 publication of the first printed textbook on economics, Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Keeping the fundamentals intact, the book also covers contemporary issues such as globalization and digital currency","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The textbook is written for delivering subject matters with subheading clearly without a fun fair of a commercial textbook","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"It is systematically and rationally consistent from introducing the basic principles of economics to the changing shape of money","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"You may design the course by choosing subject matters under different chapter headings and subheading. For example, after first 3 chapters which are fundamentals, you may jump to  chapter 6 without loosing  and others for making and designing the course the way you want, yet should be comprehensive.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Although chapters are organized from basic to complex, yet it allows flexibility in choosing chapters and  subject matters for modelling your course. However, numbering of chapters are confusing.  In print version chatters are numbered  6 to 21, but in pdf version the same chapters are numbered chapters 19 to 34. Confusing","interface_rating":1,"interface_review":"None","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Do not find any grammatical error","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Economics is a universally applicable subject, yet it is also the study of have and have not without a cultural bias.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Two points:\r\n1.  Chapter numbering in print and digital versions should be the same\r\n2. Test Bank has much fewer questions than a commercial textbook. Professor not having a large  test bank is limited choosing same  questions over and over again for a large class","created_at":"2021-06-18T18:48:06.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-06-18T18:48:06.000-05:00"},{"id":33397,"first_name":"Mitch","last_name":"Roose","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Kirkwood Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is thorough in its coverage of gross domestic product, unemployment, inflation, and fiscal and monetary policy.  The pros and cons associated with global trade are also explained very well.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found no errors in the material presented.  The book is fair in covering those areas where economists may disagree on the best way to proceed.  I especially enjoyed the analysis of similarities and differences in the tax policies of the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Most of the economic data presented is up to and including 2016 so the data is current.  I also feel the information is presented in such a way that tables and graphs can be easily updated.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text features \"Clear it Up\" and \"Bring It Home\" sections where the concepts presented are either tied to what is going on in the economy or maybe just an alternate explanation of the concept.  These two features will be very popular with students I feel.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The chapters are consistent in terms of length and material coverage.  Each chapter is approximately 25 to 30 pages in length and contains four to six sections.  I think this is good choice to keep the amount of content in each chapter similar.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The author's use of the \"Link it Up\" sections in the reading keeps the flow going.  If the reader wants more information on the topic under discussion, they can choose the link that is highlighted in this section.  If they want to keep reading, they can make that choice as well.  I like visually how that choice is displayed to the reader.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in exactly the way I like to structure my course.  I usually start with introductory concepts and then proceed to gross domestic product, unemployment, inflation, the monetary system, and then fiscal policy.  This is exactly how the text is structured.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I had no issues navigating the text.  The charts and graphics used are not overly bright or eye-catching but they do display the data in a clear, straight forward manner.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I feel the text is very fair in this area.  The authors do an excellent job especially in the areas of unemployment and inflation presenting how these two major issues do not affect all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds equally.  Their analysis of unemployment broken down by gender, age, and race is especially good.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2021-10-01T13:09:28.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-10-01T13:09:28.000-05:00"},{"id":33667,"first_name":"Richard","last_name":"Paulsen","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers all topics that I would expect to see in a Principles of Macroeconomics textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Explanations of concepts in this book are accurate and concise.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The policy discussion and coverage in this book as of January 2022 includes discussion up through the Trump presidency.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is well-written and understandable by college freshman. Explanations are concise but sufficiently thorough.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book follows a consistent framework throughout all chapters.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The modularity of this textbook is consistent with other books that are not open source in this subject area.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"I think the topics are presented in a logical manner, similar to many mainstream textbooks in this area.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I have not encountered any issues navigating through this textbook.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I have not encountered any grammatical errors in using this textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The examples presented in this book are relatively diverse, and I have not encountered cultural insensitivities.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Overall I feel this is a high quality book for teaching Principles of Macroeconomics and will consider using this book the next time I teach the course!","created_at":"2022-01-27T09:37:06.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-01-27T09:37:06.000-06:00"},{"id":34114,"first_name":"Samar","last_name":"Reine","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Springfield Technical Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook is streamlined, which works best for students with additional resources like videos, exercises, homework, and supplemental materials. It's suitable for students who shun in-depth explanations due to time factors, personality, or academic load. The concepts are clear and streamlined. It's an upside, so long students have supplemental materials. The concepts are not listed in the same order as a traditional textbook, but they're easy to search, with a helpful table of contents.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The concepts are trimmed, but accurate. This is a trustworthy textbook.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The concepts included are relevant and current. Some concepts are missing, but that's easily remedied with supplemental materials and videos.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The authors made sure the concepts are simplified, but their essence is retained.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"That's correct.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The small-bites delivery lowers anxiety, especially for students who are easily overwhelmed by content. The modules make for brief, yet effective reading.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"There is enough organization, but the order of the concepts isn't like a traditional textbook. It's not a bad set-up, just not conventional. However, since it's searchable, it works.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I have encountered no problems so far.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There are no glaring grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is neutral and respectful.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2022-11-07T12:24:12.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-11-07T12:24:12.000-06:00"},{"id":34238,"first_name":"Nathan","last_name":"Fregien","position":"Full-time Faculty","institution_name":"College of Menominee Nation","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book covers everything you would ever need to cover in a macroeconomics class. The instructor resources are very comprehensive and especially helpful for an online or hybrid course offering.  I was impressed with the online interactive supply and demand exercises, along with the polling questions and discussion prompts around specific macroeconomic topics.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The book is highly accurate regarding macroeconomic terms and applications in the real world. I especially liked that it has up-to-date scenarios describing trade-off analysis with topics students can relate to like the scarcity of Playstation 5 or the 2020 COVID pandemic toilet paper shortages. I would only take a quarter-point off but it's not an option, so I give it a 4 on accuracy since I found typos/spelling errors.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content is up to date for the most part and the instructor resources provide updated activities.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The textbook provides good examples to describe concepts that are not always easy for students to comprehend at first glance. It could have more exciting illustrations or images to depict and clarify terms and concepts.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The textbook is consistent in the approach of presenting the topics and providing self-check questions at the end of each chapter along with each EOC assessment section being consistent.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The textbook is divided into chapters that are manageable as individual learning modules.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook is arranged in a way that all the macroeconomics textbooks I have used in the past were and it contains relevant real-world examples.  This allows for concepts to be built on which is nice but the International Trade and Finance is always the last chapter in macroeconomics books which is usually past Chapter 20 and in a fifteen-week course averaging a chapter a week usually limits our class from covering this. Many times when I have taught economics I have had to skip chapters just to reach the important macroeconomic concepts in these later chapters that have excellent applications of absolute and comparative advantage on the macro scale.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Overall the textbook has an excellent interface. You can download a .pdf so you don't need to be online to read your book which is a great feature.   The online textbook is very text-heavy meaning it isn't broken up visually enough on my screen but the concepts are covered thoroughly in the writing.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The textbook seemed to be free of typos or grammatical errors but I did find a typo in the Instructor Resources.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The textbook seems to cover the international cultural component with an indifferent approach and presents facts and figures. It does not read as culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"One thing that could be added to any economics textbook is a section on Native American economies and the role that tribal sovereignty plays in regard to economic activity in their communities and abroad.","created_at":"2022-12-05T16:53:47.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-12-05T16:53:47.000-06:00"},{"id":34510,"first_name":"Yi","last_name":"Duan","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Marshall University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book gives detailed microeconomic foundations and covers all the major macroeconomic topics. It also offers some optional chapters such as “Macroeconomic Policy Around the World.” The book compares the Keynesian perspective with the Neoclassical perspective in detail and addresses the distinction between short-run and long-run issues vividly. The book also includes a summary of each chapter and some exercise questions for different purposes.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I find the content is accurate. The book is easy to read.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The topics are up to date. But I hope a new version can cover economic issues under the COVID pandemic and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Section 14.2 “Measuring Money: Currency, M1, and M2” needs to be updated, because saving accounts have been part of M1 since April 2020. Section 15.3 “How a Central Bank Executes Monetary Policy” does not include “Interest on Reserves” as a tool of monetary policy, which has been used by the Federal Reserve since 2008.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is clear and well written. I find the content is clear. The glossary at the end of each chapter clearly lays out all the key terms.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is very consistent in terms of terminology and chapter layout.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I find the modules are clear. The sections within a chapter are well organized. The learning outcomes at the beginning of each chapter can be very helpful.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Overall, the book is well organized. But some content of the “Macroeconomic Policy Around the World” chapter is about economic growth empirics, and it is usually incorporated into “Economic Growth” chapter by other textbooks.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The book is easy to navigate. I hope the PDF version can include a bookmark for “Table of Contents”. In addition, I would like to see high-resolution graphs.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The book is well written. I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book has one chapter “Economic Growth” to compare economic performance across nations, three chapters “The International Trade and Capital Flows”, “International Trade”, and “Globalization and Protectionism” to discuss economic activities among countries, and one chapter “Macroeconomic Policy Around the World” to offer different economics perspectives around the world.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is probably one of the best open textbooks available for macroeconomics at the principle level. Maybe this book is not perfect, but it can work as a very good starting point for further improvement and future adoption considerations.","created_at":"2023-04-12T15:21:55.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-04-12T15:21:55.000-05:00"},{"id":34548,"first_name":"Hardik","last_name":"Marfatia","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Northeastern Illinois University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is very comprehensive. There are some chapter specific comments here. Ch 1: Focus on labor could be more precise. Ch 5: Elasticity in supply could be added, for example parking lots and their pricing. Ch 6: Numerical example computing nominal and real GDP for a simplified economy could help. Ch 8: Stick wage discussion could be more concise. Ch 9: Calculating CPI-based inflation could be presented in step-wise format. Ch 12 and Ch 13 could be merged into a more concise “macroeconomic perspectives” chapter. Section 13.3 anyways provides a good comparison of “Balancing Keynesian and Neoclassical Models”. Ch 15 should have more explicit section of unconventional monetary policy and the current operationalization of monetary policy tools.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The foundational models of economics, which is part of the principles course, are mostly workhorse models. For example, models of demand and supply or aggregate demand and aggregate supply has not undergone major fundamental changes. Their application do change based on the evolving economic conditions. This textbook does maintain this balance of introducing such models while keeping the applications updated. However, the topic of unconventional monetary policy could be elaborated better.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text written in lucid, accessible prose, and devoid any major unnecessary jargons and technical details. However, in macroeconomics several new terms need to be introduced. That is just the part of the course. The textbook does take care in introducing these macro concepts. In fact, the “Clear it up” boxes do help in clearing up things. I see these to be a great resource for several students.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The terminology and framework are standard for the principles Macro text. And this textbook is no exception. There is no major inconsistency terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"The text reads easily with logical sections. However, is there is one area that can be improved is in this area. Throughout the text there are entire pages of plain text. This can be improved to through bullet-point or highlighted box presentation. Bullet point summary could improve readability. This is particularly more important in key chapters 3 and 11. In case of chapter 3, what Factors Affect Demand and Supply sections could benefit from listing the factors, as done for example in figure 3.9 and 3.15. In discussing the Aggregate Demand Curve, the wealth, interest rate, and foreign price effects could be in a bullet points.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"One on the strength of the textbook is the logical order of presenting the chapters and topics. Teaching Macro for 10+ years, I have realized how important the flow of chapters is for students’ understanding.  Also, perhaps Ch 16 is better suited before chapter 19, 20 and 21, as they all deal with open-economy macroeconomics. At the same time, Ch 17 and 18 would follow monetary policy as both fiscal and monetary policies are demand management policies.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The textbook is free of any significant interface issues. In fact, I liked that the clickable index. This allows for a very user-friendly experience. There are some figures (example 3.9, 3.15) that could have been neater by making bullet point summary of the factors that shift the demand and supply curves, rather than including them in the graph themselves. However, this is a subjective opinion and does not represent any problems per se.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not spot anything.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. For example, in chapter 8.2 an important point is highlighted that the gaps between unemployment rates for White, Black, and Hispanic people have diminished in the 1990s. Or the discussion of “Growth Policies for Economically-Challenged Countries in chapter 19, or complexities of providing economic aid in Africa in the link it up video. However, more examples to embrace diversity and inclusivity in topics such as demand and supply, inflation, elasticity, amongst others could make the text culturally more sensitive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I enjoyed reviewing the book. This book is precise, to the point, and yet comprehensive. Economics at principles level is best understood by balancing the conceptual presentation through text with the associated graphics. The textbook aptly maintains this balance. The other area which also greatly helps students is providing with real-life examples. Something that is imperative to lay the foundation of economic ideas. I also really liked the flow of the chapter topics. \nApart from the content, the book is also ADHD ready – meaning the fonts, headings, tables, figures, all appear to ADHD-learners compliant. Further, the PDF version of the textbook is clickable, thus allowing easy navigation across contents.\nBelow are the bullet-point comments on specificities.\nAcross Chapters review (+ denotes strong points; * denotes areas that can be improved)\n+ Each subsection also has explicit learning objectives. \n+ “Clear it up” does help in clearing up things.\n+* “Link It Up” video links are helpful. However, some the links are dead. See, for example, http://openstax.org/l/foodafrica\nhttp://openstax.org/l/integration\n* Bullet point summary could improve readability. Throughout the text there are entire pages of plain text. This can be improved to through bullet-point or highlighted box presentation.  \n* The discussion on certain occasions seems a bit lengthy in absence of bullet points. Also, parts of text can be more concise. For example, chapter 4 can be made more concise. Chapter 16, 19, 20, and 21 can be reorganized into 2 or 3 chapter. Sections 19.1 and 19.2 can be included Chapter 7, Section 19.3 can be included in chapter 8, 19.4 can be included in chapter 9, 19.5 in chapter 20.","created_at":"2023-05-09T21:42:46.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-05-09T21:42:46.000-05:00"},{"id":35304,"first_name":"Sabina","last_name":"Mlodzianowska","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Metropolitan State University of Denver","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"Principles of Macroeconomics 3e provides thorough coverage of all fundamental macroeconomic concepts, making it highly suitable for introductory courses. It includes an effective glossary and key terms after each chapter, which reinforces comprehension and provides a quick reference for students. Each chapter concludes with self-check questions, review questions, critical thinking questions, and problems that help reinforce key concepts through practical application. However, it would be beneficial to include answers to all questions and problems, not only to self-check questions, to further support independent study.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content in Principles of Macroeconomics 3e is accurate, error-free, and presented without bias. Economic concepts and data are clearly explained.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The book includes content that remains relevant and can easily be updated when necessary. The integration of the FRED database is a strong feature that allows students to access the latest economic data and enhances learning through real-world application. However, considering the increasingly global focus of macroeconomics, including more examples from emerging economies would broaden students' understanding of international economic perspectives. I did notice some older links (over ten years old) within the resources that would benefit from updates to ensure continued relevance, particularly regarding data sources and examples.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in accessible language, which is particularly helpful for students from diverse academic backgrounds or those unfamiliar with economic terminology. Concepts are explained clearly.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The textbook maintains consistent terminology and framework throughout, which supports ease of learning as students progress from chapter to chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided effectively into smaller, manageable sections that are easily accessible.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The textbook is well-organized, with a logical progression from foundational concepts to more complex macroeconomic topics. The only recommendation I have is to place Chapter 10, \"International Trade and Capital Flows,\" before Chapter 20, \"International Trade.\" This rearrangement would improve the flow of related topics and enhance comprehension for students.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is free from significant interface issues. Charts and graphs are well-integrated.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The textbook is well-edited and grammatically sound, with no noticeable errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text could incorporate more examples from developing economies, adding a valuable dimension to the content. Given the global nature of economics, including perspectives from various countries and backgrounds, as well as examples that reflect diverse economic experiences, would make the material even more engaging and relatable for students from all backgrounds.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall, Principles of Macroeconomics 3e is a comprehensive and accessible resource for introductory macroeconomics students. The inclusion of a glossary, summary sections, and self-check questions enhances its utility as a study aid. Additionally, its FRED integration provides hands-on experience with real economic data. Updating older links and providing more content on emerging economies would further strengthen this resource, ensuring it remains both accurate and inclusive. This textbook serves as a valuable foundation for students navigating macroeconomic concepts and supports their success in learning.","created_at":"2024-11-04T17:23:28.000-06:00","updated_at":"2024-11-04T17:23:28.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-macroeconomics-2014","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:42:48.000-06:00"},{"id":193,"title":"Principles of Microeconomics","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"Principles of Economics 2e covers the scope and sequence of most introductory economics courses. The text includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts. The second edition has been thoroughly revised to increase clarity, update data and current event impacts, and incorporate the feedback from many reviewers and adopters. Changes made in Principles of Economics 2e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the second edition. The first edition of Principles of Economics by OpenStax is available in web view in the ancillaries","contributors":[{"id":3560,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Timothy","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Taylor","location":"Saint Paul, Minnesota","background_text":"Senior Contributing Author Timothy Taylor, Macalester College"},{"id":5048,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steven","middle_name":"A.","last_name":"Greenlaw","location":"Fredericksburg, Virginia","background_text":"Senior Content Expert Steven A. Greenlaw, University of Mary Washington"},{"id":5049,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Eric","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Dodge","location":"Hanover, Indiana","background_text":"Senior Contributors Eric Dodge, Hanover College"}],"subjects":[{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":112,"url":"http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/principles-of-microeconomics","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"OpenStax"}],"formats":[{"id":152,"type":"Online","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-2e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":153,"type":"PDF","url":"https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-2e","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":154,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Microeconomics-Timothy-Taylor/dp/1938168240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8\u0026qid=1405699084\u0026sr=8-1\u0026keywords=principles+of+economics+openstax","price":{"cents":3350,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":19,"reviews":[{"id":308,"first_name":"Alexandra","last_name":"Nica","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"The University of Iowa","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook overall is very comprehensive, it covers all the areas of study and concepts that are typically covered in a Principles of Microeconomics course. The amount of information included in this book is impressive and some of the chapters actually have more information than a typical textbook of this level. There are also chapters that are not necessarily covered in this type of class (mostly due to time constraints), however they are well presented in general and quite a great resource for instructors and students who want to include more and relevant material in their coursework. \r\nAs with any other textbook there are also a few minor shortcomings. Some of the chapters can be a little longer than anticipated, which could have a distracting side effect on students. For example the introductory chapter does a good job of going over a lot of the topics that will be covered, but it feels as if it goes into too many details right from the beginning. It also talks about a few Macroeconomics issues that won’t be part of the textbook as it goes along, so it feels more of an introductory chapter to a Principles of Economics book.  \r\nAnother example is the presentation of the budget constraint, which appears in the same chapter as the presentation of the production possibilities frontier (to reflect choice for consumers versus choice for society) and then appears again in the consumer choice chapter. It is a more unusual way to present this topic, as typically the budget constraint and utility go together without having to refer back to another chapter. It is by no means a big problem, just an observation. \r\nSome other less typical groupings are negative externalities and positive externalities treated in separate chapters, grouped with other concepts (environmental protectionism and public goods respectively). This particular approach could potentially be a little confusing to students, especially since the Coase Theorem is not treated in a lot of detail. \r\nAll chapters in general are well constructed. There are a few other concepts/details in some of these chapters though that miss certain aspects that one would expect to see. For example the elasticity chapter does not cover the details of elasticity along a demand curve. The oligopoly chapter does not have a detailed preliminary discussion on game theory and its elements before presenting actual game setups. Also, the monopoly chapter does not go into a lot of detail on the inefficiency and deadweight loss that results from a monopoly. There is also no discussion on price discrimination and it would have been great to see more explanatory graphs in here. There is however a separate chapter on monopoly and antitrust law and cases, which is well presented, if albeit slightly long. One last observation is related to the production side (i.e. the chapters on costs and perfect competition), which seem a little disjointed, with some aspects that we would expect to see in one chapter presented in the other.\r\nOther chapters are particularly well done and the concepts are very nicely and clearly explained, some with unique approaches (e.g. the supply and demand chapter, the labor and financial market chapters, the more unique labor market related chapter concentrated on unions, immigration, discrimination, the international trade and globalization chapters, the asymmetric information and risk chapter, the poverty and inequality chapter and the public economy chapter).\r\nThere are also three Appendices included with this book, which are very useful. One covers the mathematics needed to understand all the concept explanations and applications, one covers a thorough presentation on indifference curves including a step by step explanation on income and substitution effects. The third appendix covers a presentation of present value calculation methods.\r\nAnswers to review questions are provided as well, which can be extremely useful to students for self-assessment and better understanding of concepts.\r\nThe PDF version of the book provides a comprehensive index at the end of it. The online version of the book has a glossary at the end of each of the modules from each chapter, which comes in very handy. \r\n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"From what I have seen, the content of the book is accurate and error free. There are a few rare typos, but nothing that would distract the reader from the material. It also does not seem to be biased even though it covers some controversial topics in a few chapters, however it is in a manner of stating facts, not choosing sides, which is the most important distinction. There could be the argument that many examples are related to the US economy, however they contribute to the relevancy of the topic discussed. All examples included are very well chosen and one of the strong points of the book.\r\n","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book contains many current examples/cases/information, which is a big plus especially for a Microeconomics text that contains a lot of theory and many times it does not need frequent updates because of this reason. This book however has many examples and I think that from the way the book is structured and the manner in which these cases are included in each chapter, it would not make it too hard to keep them up to date. And it would have the added benefit that it would refresh the content and make it especially interesting to current and future students","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Here is where this textbook excels in almost every chapter. The material is presented very clearly and in a very approachable style. There are learning goals listed at the beginning of each chapter and at the beginning of each of the subsections of said chapter as well, which is a great way to keep everything on track and make it clear to students what they should expect to know after reading that particular part of the material. \r\nThe book gives a lot of examples, uses current information and data and clarifies concepts very well in this manner. It addresses the students directly and almost has the feel of the instructor talking to the class when reading it. It contains many step-by-step explanations of concepts and graphs and clarifies even elementary notions without giving the sense of simplifying things too much.\r\nIt achieves a good level of interactivity (so to speak), because it breaks the text down in several ways. Each chapter has a “Bring it Home” example or case at the beginning and at the end of the chapter. It also contains “Work it Out” sections with solved problems relevant to the concepts presented. There are “Link it Up” sections that contain a link to a real world case or example relevant to the concept studied. And also there are “Clear it Up” sections that describe well many of the concepts that tend to be challenging to students at the beginning.\r\nIn the online version of the book, these sections are not titled in that manner, but start with a “NOTE”, which does not provide the same level of detail. The PDF version’s notation is preferable from this point of view, to keep student’s interest high.\r\nAlso each chapter contains key concept summaries at the end of it, self-check questions, review questions and critical thinking questions. All of these add to the clarity and understanding of the concepts studied.\r\n","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework, the presentation as well throughout the book with only a few exceptions that I mentioned in the comprehensiveness part of this review.\r\n","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The way the text is separated in the sections mentioned above (in the “Clarity” part of the review) makes it very engaging and interactive for students. \r\nThis way the student has the opportunity to read the material pertaining to a specific concept, relate it to a real-world example and also try a problem that would help deepen the understanding of that concept. It also helps by not making all the material in a chapter too overwhelming to go through.\r\nIn the online version of the book, the modularity aspect is even more prevalent, because each chapter is separated in modules, each module containing a glossary, references and review questions at the end of it (whereas the PDF version has all the review questions at the end of the chapter, together with key concept reviews, self-check questions and critical thinking questions).\r\n","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"Some of the chapters of this book are not organized in a typical manner. I gave a few examples of this in the comprehensiveness part of the book (e.g. the externalities chapters, the monopoly chapters, some of the production side details, consumer choice details etc.). As an instructor, it would be easy to assign them in different order to students or combine the relevant information from some of the chapters. However for students who are looking to improve their economic knowledge and use the book outside of a class structure, it might prove a little more challenging to keep some of these related chapters and concepts organized. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There was only one issue that I encountered with the PDF version of the book. The links from the “Link it Up” section are not easily followed directly from the text (or copy/pasted in a browser). This is not an issue for the online version of the book. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were only very few (very minor) errors spotted throughout the book, but nothing that would distract or keep students from using the textbook.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The textbook does not seem culturally insensitive or offensive, even if it covers some topics that could be considered controversial. However as I mentioned before, they are presented as facts in a relevant discussion surrounding the concepts covered, not as opinions, so it does not qualify as culturally offensive or insensitive. Many of the examples are focused on the US economy, however there are also international aspects and examples presented.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall, the textbook is a very pleasant surprise, with all relevant Microeconomics topics covered and in a comprehensive and clear manner. I especially like the approachable style and the structure that I think will keep students engaged and enthusiastic about the material, which is no small feat to accomplish from an introductory economics text.","created_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":521,"first_name":"Janice","last_name":"Kinghorn","position":"Senior Lecturer","institution_name":"Miami University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all the learning objectives required for an introductory microeconomic theory course.  Examples extend the content to topics such as supply and demand in financial and labor markets, and antitrust policy.  Additional chapters at the end of the text provide extensions into current topics such as poverty and inequality, unions, discrimination, and immigration.  Chapters on public economics and financial markets are a nice addition for an instructor who wants to extend the typical micro theory content.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not find any material mistakes in the text.  I was pleased with how more controversial topics were presented.  The books gave facts and introduced methods of analysis without betraying a bias.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Examples are quite up to date. Some of the latest data in graphs were 2010 or 2012.  Material in the international trade section will need to be updated by an instructor or a future edition.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The writing seems to be very clear and straightforward.  Disciplinary specific terms are defined and placed in context but may need to be pointed out by an instructor.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is quite consistent - each chapter's layout is similar thus increasing the clarity for a student.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book is broken down into short modules within chapters.  Each chapter begins by placing it in the context of the course material and referring to other places in the text where it may be integrated.  An instructor should have no difficulty using individual chapters.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The books begins with production possibility frontiers, incorporating budget lines in that content, then proceeds to supply and demand analysis.  Examples from labor and financial markets reinforce supply and demand analysis before proceedings to elasticity and consumer choice.  The next section of the book discusses industry structure and includes antitrust policy.  The text then introduces externalities in the context of environmental protection and public goods.  Finally, issues such as poverty, labor market issues, information, public economics are covered.  The book ends with a section on international trade and globalization.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I reviews a print copy of the text that was professionally presented.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not observe any grammatical errors in the text.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Most examples in the text were from common firms or products (Amazon, the cotton industry, TSA, etc.).","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1063,"first_name":"Joseph","last_name":"Schoen","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Anoka-Ramsey Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers the major content areas covered in a Principle of Microeconomics course.  The index and the glossary are just as good, if not better, than those found in other textbooks.  On top of the topics you come to expect in any Microeconomics textbook, other relevant topics are also included later in the book, such as risk and insurance, issues in labor markets, and financial markets.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Even though the textbook goes into many examples and additional areas of Microeconomics, little was found in terms of errors.  The textbook seems to be unbiased in its presentation, but that would be more of a concern in a Macroeconomics textbook.  Typing errors are very rare, and most likely will not be noticed by most readers.  Overall, the textbook was found to be accurate throughout.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook does have lots of relevant examples throughout, which is one of its strong points, but with that comes the issue of ensuring that these examples are updated as time goes on, which may have implications on the books longevity.  When it comes to the core issues covered, the textbook is again relevant and the longevity issue becomes much less of a concern.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The textbook is written at a level appropriate for the expected audience.  Plenty of context is given for the economic terminology that is presented throughout the book.  The structure of the chapters makes the textbook very approachable, and provides a good structure in explaining the complicated concepts that can arise in a microeconomics course.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent in its chapter structures and general layout.  After the first few chapters, students will know where to look in a chapter for additional resources (list of key terms, self check questions, etc.) and what to expect in these resources.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The textbook breaks the topics up in an appropriate matter that makes it easy for the instructor to \"bounce\" around the textbook as they see fit.  The textbook also mentions how the material to be covered in a particular section may relate to other topics within the book.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Great structure overall.  The text starts with the fundamental concepts that are typically covered in a Principles of Microeconomics course and builds off of them nicely as it progresses through the topics.  If the instructor finds the structure doesn't necessarily follow the way they would normally address the topics, the textbooks modularity makes it easy for them to organize it in a way that works for them.","interface_rating":1,"interface_review":"Overall, the books interface seems to be adequate for the topic, but also its weakest area.  It would have been nice for the graphs to be bolder in color and professional looking.  For instance, the graphs of supply, demand, and market equilibrium are all monotone with thin lines.  This becomes even more of an issue when looking at the graphical representation of profit maximization in later topics. Adding more color would go a long way.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Very few grammatical errors were found throughout the textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook is not culturally insensitive or offensive.  Like many other economic textbooks, it does address some controversial issues to lure the reader in, but does so in a way that avoids issues of insensitivity.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall a good textbook.  It has smooth transitions from one topic to the other and interrelates the areas covered nicely.  The graphs could be improved upon though, but this does not make or break the textbook.","created_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1109,"first_name":"Anna","last_name":"Antus","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"North Hennepin Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook is very comprehensive. It covers all topics covered in most principle of microeconomics courses and more. It has great index of the whole textbook and glossary attached to each chapter. It provides with good order of all major areas covered in principles of microeconomics. I like organization of the topics as they follow most of the main stream textbook order of concepts.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"After reading the textbook I could not find any errors or lack of accuracy in the textbook. Great link and updated stories attached in the body of the textbook. I really like the \"Link it Up\" section that bring accurate and updated stories to the students attention.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content is relevant and up-to-date. It might be that the chapters (some of them) are a little too long. I might not be to objective as I am mostly teaching hybrid accelerate courses and the longevity of each textbook chapters are sort of important to me. But I like the section \"Clear it Up\" and \"Work it Out\" as a great resource for students regardless if the class is online or face-to-face.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I think the text is written with very clear language with some technical terminology that is necessary for better and clear understanding of economics.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is very consistent in using the same terms and framework through all the chapters.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text has some flexibility and modularity as it can be assigned at different points within the course. Well organize with plenty of flexibility to reorganize the order of the assigned material.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in a logical, clear order following most of the main economics textbook like Krugman or Mankiw.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I have downloaded the text in PDF to better navigate on my computer (as being bigger file it was slowing down my navigation on line) and using PDF file I have not noticed any interface problems. It was not having any distortion of images/charts etc.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not detect any grammar issues in the textbook myself.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I have not found any cultural insensitive issues or examples that would have improper cultural relevance.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Very well done textbook. I might use it in the future in my classes.","created_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1196,"first_name":"John","last_name":"Brouwer","position":"Principal","institution_name":"Eton College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"\r\n\tThe text covers all the areas and ideas of Macroeconomics that one would expect to find at the introductory level. The subjects are clear, easy to follow, relevant with applied examples. Global examples are used through the lens of US laws and economics. No index or glossary was provided with the version that was reviewed.\r\n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"\r\n\tText is accurate, error-free, but does have a bias towards US law and economics. Many of the case studies are global in origin, which are excellent, however, the authors always return to the effects towards the US, or if a US case study is examined there is very little mention of the effect towards the Canadian economy.\r\n","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"\r\n\tThe content is up to date and should constantly be up dated to truly connect the student to the learning objectives as they effect the global economies of today. Generally the text will not become obsolete in a short period of time yet the authors will need to either update the data within the text or provide updated links to the already numerous web sites referred to within the text.\r\n","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"\r\n\tThe authors use a story telling format that is easy to read and comprehend.\r\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"\r\n\tThe text is consistent in terminology and framework. The early chapters are well setup providing foundational information for the each of the subsequent chapters. Each chapter progressively provides the learner with more challenging concepts, language, and equations.\r\n","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"\r\n\tThe text builds upon each chapter that provides effective information to the reader to continue. There are many reading sections with each followed by \"Key Takeaway\" statements and \"Checking Your Understanding\" questions. It may be difficult for those not familiar with economic concepts to not read the chapters sequentially.\r\n","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"\r\n\tStory telling format; the reader is provided with fundamental economic realities in the world using examples that are relevant to people in general. The foundational concepts are discussed before the math and graphs are introduced hence the reader has already seen the \"what's in it for me\" reality.\r\n","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"\r\n\tNo problems were found.\r\n","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"\r\n\tNone were found.\r\n","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"\r\n\tThe text does not appear to be insensitive or offensive in any way. As the text is focused to US learners, students from other countries, such as Canada, may not feel that this is relevant to their history, or future.\r\n","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"\r\n\tThe text is well laid out as is the content but the text should be entitled: Macroeconomics: Theory in Application from a US Perspective. Web links worked as did page reference links (there was a request to register to Flatworldknowledge.com which I did not do). The international examples are excellent for any student to use. Overall the text would be excellent if there was a considerable amount of Canadian content added. The reason for this is that while economic policies appear to be similar between Canada and the USA, the decision making is different.\r\n\r\n\tThis review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.\r\n","created_at":"2017-05-08T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-05-08T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1809,"first_name":"Aida","last_name":"Odobasic","position":"Assistant Professor ","institution_name":"University of Delaware","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Principles of Microeconomics textbook covers the breath of microeconomic topics from introduction to the subject, to development of the main model of demand and supply, fundamentals of the microeconomics theory, microeconomic  policy issues, and it finishes by introducing international economics. It covers everything typically covered in the introductory microeconomics course. Index is hyperlinked, which makes it efficient. The book is well organized. Each chapter has a 'Clear It Up' sections where the most typical misconceptions are addressed. Additionally, there are review and practice problems at the end of the chapter, along with summaries, and key terms.     ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The examples used are relevant and current. Hyperlinks to different websites where examples came from are provided for further reading. Definitions and explanations are straightforward and accurate. The data used in numerous examples is current as of 2015. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book uses examples and data from 2015. The examples are carefully picked. The textbook will stay current for the number of years. For example, oil price changes in the US economy will always be a topic of interest that captures students attention regardless when the particular price change discussed took place. Number of examples are about the US economy.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is straightforward and easy to understand. Explanations are clear. For example, the text provides one of the best explanations for the concept of perfectly elastic demand that I have ever read in a principles textbook. I put special focus on topics that students usually have troubles grasping, such as elasticity, and I am excited to introduce this textbook to my principles class this winter and see how students react to it. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I did not find any inconsistency in terms of terminology and framework. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into 20 chapter. Each chapter is subtitled and organized by topics. Examples are provided throughout the text. The organization of topics is organized in a way I typically use when I teach the material. Depending on the class, instructor can chose to skip some of the later chapters on policy issues without disruption to the reader. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"I found the text easy to read and interesting, well organized in a logical order. The effort that went into producing this text is admirable. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I downloaded the pdf version of the textbook without any issues. I used hyperlinks for internal end external materials without any problems.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors while reading the text. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find text offensive. It is geared mostly to the US audience, but without favoritism or bias. Authors are from the US and they use examples from their own frame of reference, which is as expected. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I enjoyed the text and I am going to adopt it in my principles class. I would like to thank the authors and everyone involved for the time and effort they devoted to creating a high quality textbook. ","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1981,"first_name":"Pablo","last_name":"Hernandez","position":"Associate Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Hollins University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This OER text offers readers a comprehensive breadth of topics from an introductory standard microeconomics perspective. This text features a table of contents, index, end-of-chapter key terms, and a comprehensive chapter/topic list of references.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate and error-free. The book is biased toward an assessment of economic outcomes from market approaches and fairly free-market driven processes. Early in their careers, young aspiring economists ought to be exposed to an understanding of the enclosure of the commons and the overriding importance of alternative property regimes. “Because things are driven by tradition, [DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN] there is little economic progress or development”. (Principles of Microeconomics, p. 15. My emphasis) Conversely, self-sustenance and small-scale farming – elements under a “traditional economy”- are considered key bottom-up principles for the conservation of natural capital and a revitalization of the commons.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Content is up-to-date and policy-relevant. The relevance may improve should alternative policy examples be included in areas such as international migration; forced migration due to global climate change, a juxtaposition of views surrounding controversial economic theories or themes related to microeconomics (i.e.: environmental and natural resources economics views versus ecological economic views concerning natural capital).","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Prose is clear. Use of jargons and techncal terminology is limited. Although diagrams may seem a bit convoluted at first sight.\nAuthors may removing so many quantity,price numbered pairs, particularly under chapter 3: Demand and Supply.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Book is consistent based on approach (standard microeconomics) and terminology.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Modularitty is evident from the beginning of the text, as authors offer alternate sequencing. Also, more advanced topics may be read and discussed without significant prior knowledge in microeconomics. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Topics are presented in a logical and consistent manner. Text structure is fine.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text's interface is also fairly nimble. Navigation (online or on downloaded PDF version) is smooth.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I can't recall any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"Text may offer cultural or \"traditional economy\" insenstivity. Refer to above case concerning \"traditional economy\".","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Thank you.","created_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2468,"first_name":"Zhongjin","last_name":"Li","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"University of Missouri - Kansas City","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers most of the intro-level standard microeconomic materials and provides students a relatively full picture of the microeconomic landscape with real-world examples. I do hope it can incorporate more heterodox and historical perspectives and research, so students can be exposed to the arguments and contribution made by Institutionalists, Marxists, etc on a variety of topics in microeconomics and get the impression that many theories and issues are debatable and many terms have a historical context. I did use a real-world micro reader as a complementary text in teaching.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"It's a quite standard intro-level microeconomics textbook. The mainstream interpretation in microeconomics is accurate.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"I would like to see more updates in the chapter on international trade.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is written in lucid, accessible prose. It may be better to include more real-world examples, debates, and data, so students can feel more involved, especially on issues directly related with a college campus, such as a tobacco ban, contingent labor form, and student debt. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is quite consistent in terminology and the general framework.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"I was not able to teach the entire book in one semester, so a few later chapters were skipped, but students had no problem to do the readings.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are organized in a standard way.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"My students, in general, feel the textbook quite easy to navigate.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally offensive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Given the high price of other standard non-open source textbooks, I think this textbook does a fairly good job as a substitute. I would recommend instructors to consider adopting this book while at the same time using a more non-standard book/reader (collection of short essays) as a complementary (but also required) piece of readings.","created_at":"2018-12-14T15:57:06.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-12-14T15:57:06.000-06:00"},{"id":3363,"first_name":"Rupayan","last_name":"Gupta","position":"Professor","institution_name":"Roger Williams University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I find the book very comprehensive. Comparing with some of the leading published textbooks the coverage and depth are both comparable. Perhaps the section on Oligopoly could be expanded a bit with a few more examples.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The subject matter is accurate and unbiased.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book is relevant today and I believe it will be relevant long term.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I feel that the presentation of the material is lucid.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The subject matter is internally consistent.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Very well demarcated into modules for easy reading and understanding.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Nicely organized, though I would have had a better demarcation between monopolistic competition and oligopoly.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The book's interface is a little less attractive than some of the textbooks from traditional publishers. It is by no means bad, but students used to current levels of gloss might find the interface a bit drab. However, this has more to do with superficial presentation techniques than with real factors associated with learning. The less expense might make students more amenable to forgoing the catchiness of the product.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Grammatically correct","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Not culturally offensive","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"It is a book that is thoughtful and comprehensive. It can compete on an equal footing with textbooks offered by traditional commercial publishers.","created_at":"2019-12-09T15:17:39.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-12-09T15:17:39.000-06:00"},{"id":3488,"first_name":"Shengnan","last_name":"Fang","position":"Economics Instructor","institution_name":"Linn-Benton Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook not only covers the major content for principles level class, but also introduces chapters related to industrial organization, labor economics, environmental economics and international trade. \r\nThe index is hyperlinked, which is useful and efficient to locate the chapter accurately. \r\nEach chapter begins with a real world economic example or question in \"Bring it Home\" section, and it also ends with a detail explanations related to the examples or questions in \"Bring it Home\". This layout is efficient and helpful for students to catch up the application of the chapter content. \r\nKey terms, concepts and summary at the end of each chapter are also useful to help student better catch the main points.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate. However, I want to point out that the graphs in Chapter 3 are little bit messy, especially on Page 53. The students might be confused to see the graph at the first time. In my opinion, it might be not necessary to put all the dots on the graph, and the numbers of arrows are more than needed. And this also shows on Page 48 and 49. You have already shown the demand schedule and supply schedule in tables, it might be much clearer to show two dots on the graph to explain how to draw the curves. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook begins with a question to Facebook, which and catch students' attentions as they use it often. And this question can also make student realize that Economics is everywhere. I think the book content is up-to-date and policy relevant. For example, Chapter 12 introduces the environmental protection, and it uses the example of bottle bills, which is what we need to pay in Oregon. Therefore, it might be interesting to encourage my students' engagement to discuss it. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Overall, the text is written in lucid and accessible prose. But I still want to point out the layout of Chapter 3. It might be better to move Figure 3.2 on Page 48 to Page 47, which is easier to student to understand how to draw a demand curve based on the demand schedule. At the end of Page 51, it might be better to move the title 3.2 to next page. Too many pairs of price and quantity in graphs of Chapter 3 might be a little bit messy. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"There are 20 chapters in this textbook. I think it might be a little bit more than my students. For example, after Chapter 3, the authors add Chapter 4 which mainly focuses the policy application of Chapter 3. And there are also some contents, such as Minimum Wage, repeating in Chapter 14. Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 introduce the negative and positive externalities, and it might be better to combine these two chapters into one chapter.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Each chapter is well organized. I like the \"Introduction\" at the beginning of each chapter. It highlights the questions needed to understand and gives me a guideline to go through the content.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Download the textbook online is easy and the hyperlinks and QR codes in \"Link It Up\" section work well. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I cannot recall any grammatical errors in the textbook. ","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I think there is no culturally offensive content.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"As an instructor to community college students, I think the content of this textbook is up-to-date and easy to go through. However, for microeconomics, I think 20 chapters might be more for my students. For the section of \"Link-It-Up\", it might be better to put more video (less than 4 mins) to catch students' attention and improve their engagement. ","created_at":"2020-01-09T16:33:45.000-06:00","updated_at":"2020-01-09T16:33:45.000-06:00"},{"id":3969,"first_name":"Colin","last_name":"Jareb","position":"Graduate Student","institution_name":"University of Colorado Boulder","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers all of the sections that are expected for a principles class. Further extensions into financial markets, income inequality, and political economy are covered well. There is a nice index with links to the appropriate pages, however there is no glossary with all of the key terms and definitions in one place; instead they are presented at the end of each chapter which could potentially make them difficult to find. A drawback of the way the material is presented is that trade is covered in the last two chapters; the concept of comparative advantage and the gains from trade are fundamental reasons that markets form and should thus be covered much earlier. Further, the authors introduce consumer, producer, and social surplus but neglect to tie these concepts to deadweight loss and market inefficiencies in subsequent chapters.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The graphs and diagrams are for the most part high-quality and accurate. There are some specific instances, for example the chapter on externalities, where the graphs presented don't flow with the material as well as they could. In the chapter on externalities the graphs do not clearly show that the social cost curve lies above the private supply curve as a result of the size of the externality. Otherwise, in the examples, clear it up, and bring it home sections material is presented well and in a non-biased manner.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The base content is up-to-date and in general the content taught in a standard principles class will not change frequently. Some of the examples and policy applications are somewhat out-of-date. For example, one example concerns Netflix charging for streaming and DVD rentals, which most college students won't really connect with as they don't consume DVDs anymore. Any economics textbook will have to deal with this dilemma and new editions and updates are straightforward; however, this book may be out of date within two or three years.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is well-written and easy to follow. Each chapter is structured well so that it is clear what topics are covered in which sections and the flow is sensible. The biggest issue I find is that some of the graphs and diagrams do not always align smoothly with the text that discusses the associated concepts.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Terminology and the flow of each chapter is consistent with each other. As mentioned previously there are some concepts that could easily be linked across chapters. The authors are consistent in that this content does not appear and disappear readily.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book is modular. As noted earlier it may be very beneficial to in fact go out of order, for example, by teaching chapter 19 early in the course and linking this content to the production possibilities frontier and why markets form. Within chapters the introduction clearly lays out what is covered in each section and sections can easily be re-ordered or skipped.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Within chapters the content is well-organized, has a clear logical flow and hard-to-digest concepts are properly built and presented. As mentioned earlier, I would re-order some of the chapters if using this book to teach my class.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The textbook has several hyperlinks and qr codes that function properly. There are no noticeable distortions or errors that prevent delivery of the textbook content.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The book is well-written and does not contain noticeable grammatical or spelling errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Economics generally can tackle questions that are divisive and some of the topics in the book should be treated with care if presented in class. Having pointed that out, the authors are very objective in presenting these examples, applications, and concepts in a way that is unoffensive and culturally relevant.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2020-06-11T16:32:04.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-11T16:32:04.000-05:00"},{"id":3998,"first_name":"David","last_name":"Ornstil","position":"adjunct lecturer","institution_name":"University of Massachusetts Lowell","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This principles textbook covers all areas generally taught in a principles of microeconomics course as well as including chapters on social welfare and behavioral economics. Theories are thoughtfully presented and easy to read with many examples that students will enjoy reading about.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"All information appears to be accurately presented and covers many subjects that might be considered controversial but are explained in a neutral, unbiased manner","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"There are plenty of examples of companies and policies that are current, However, a number of the tables offered need to be updated with current statistics. Many end in 2015 or before. By early on offering the availability of the FRED website students will be able to take the tables used in the text and update the information to make it more relevant.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"This textbook is extremely well written and clearly explains the topics offered. Students will find the readings easy to follow.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"A great framework for presenting the material. Each chapter gives an overview of the material then proceeds to follow that outline step by step. Each chapter ends with a glossary of terms used for easy reference and questions that are thought provoking. However, I found some of the graphs difficult to follow as they are one color and not bold enough to present a clear understanding of the graphical presentation. Found that the switch back and forth between linear and non linear graphs might be somewhat confusing for the students.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This textbook will be easy to divide into sections that can be brought forward or pushed back as you organize your class structure.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I found the position of some chapters very curious. I would have talked about elasticity before government involvement and international trade much earlier when looking at consumer and producer surplus.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"As mentioned above the only complaint I have is the presentation of the graphs. They need to be bolder and more consistent in shape.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"no major grammatical errors","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook is neutral in its presentation","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This textbook can easily be adapted to cover any topic covered in a Principles of Microeconomics course","created_at":"2020-06-17T09:34:33.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-17T09:34:33.000-05:00"},{"id":4151,"first_name":"Damindi","last_name":"De Silva","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Quinsigamond Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject  and provides an effective index and/or glossary. The text can be used as a required text at an Introductory level Microeconomics course at College level.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Most part I found the text to be accurate and error free and unbiased. But I would like to mention the following as improvements to the text. The Figure 1.2 on page 11 shows a picture of absolute poverty rather than scarce resources for me. Scarcity is a relative term and the picture on the figure shows an absolute concept. Students will surely get confused as to scarcity is something like poverty. Scarcity is limited resources to fulfill unlimited wants. Scarcity is prevalent everywhere even among the rich.  So I wouldn't put that figure 1.2 as scarcity. Another improvement that I suggest is to explain absolute advantage and comparative advantage where the explanation of specialization and division of labor is mentioned. If Trade and Markets are introduced in page 14 some understanding about absolute and comparative advantage should be mentioned at that point. This can be connected to the Chapter on International Trade later on.  I like how the cost curves and product curves are well explained in chapter 7.  However on page 199 it would be great if another two diagrams are used after Figure 8.6 showing the shaded areas such as contribution towards covering fixed cost in the short run and the loss areas when price goes below Average Variable Cost. The Chapter on Oligopoly could be expanded with sub topics as price wars and non price competition. Since this market is a very interesting market more examples from different countries could be used. In the chapter on Monopoly a dead weight loss diagram comparing perfect competition and monopoly firms, a diagram to show Allocative inefficiency and sub topic on price discrimination would complete that chapter well.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Content is up- to-date on most part but Table 1.2 and many other tables could be updated. The text is written in such away that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straight forward to implement.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in lucid, accessible prose and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in terms of framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). The text should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. But in Chapter 3 I would include a section on distinction between movement along and the shifts of demand and supply curves. Also an explanation on how excess demand and excess supply moves towards a market equilibrium will be a needed addition to page 50 on Chapter 3. \r\nThe  features such as Link it Up, Work it Out, Bring it Home, Key terms, Key concepts and summary,Review Questions, Critical Thinking questions, Problems at the end of each chapter are great features.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader. The Link it up feature is great feature. Videos and articles both could be used for this feature.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"the text contains no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive. But I would not include Table 1.2 with countries like China. Based on the national income categorization China is a upper middle income country and India is a lower middle income country. Tables like table 1.2 can be culturally sensitive especially in an era where trade wars and controversies are happening with this country.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Education resources such as these texts are way of bridging the gap between the divided world. Especially texts on Economics can be used to do this bridging very well. I would use many examples from around the world in my classes of Macro and Micro Economics. When using countries as examples I would be cautious as to what the essence the students will bring home.\r\nOverall this text has done great justice in building a text of Principles of Microeconomics. I recommend it to Instructors for an introductory level course at College level.","created_at":"2020-06-29T18:10:46.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-29T18:10:46.000-05:00"},{"id":4243,"first_name":"Jay","last_name":"Leung","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Bunker Hill Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers most of the intro-level mainstream microeconomic topics. An honors level microeconomics course would consider a textbook that was more advanced and in-depth.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Photos and real-world examples would need to be regularly updated.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"The text is written in an easy-to-read manner. However, the book would benefit significantly from graphic design overhaul. The graphs are too small in size and lack color. The use of color would illuminate the various cost curves. Math equations could be typeset more clearly by using a different font and improved layout. Table data could be laid out more clearly.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The textbook is consistent in its use of terminology.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters can be used in the same groupings as other microeconomics textbook.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The chapters are organized in a standard way.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"There are no issues with the interface.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I didn’t find any grammatical errors, but there are quite a few typos.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I didn’t find anything that was culturally offensive. Many of the examples are quite dated though. Note that the textbook is from an American perspective.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"OER is a very worthy project. I root for its success. The prose of the book is very approachable; however, the graphic design including the text layout makes this textbook not ready for primetime. Although the free price tag of this book is attractive, the lack of integration between the explanations and the graphs (e.g. no use of color) detracts from the effectiveness of the textbook.","created_at":"2020-07-13T14:18:15.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-07-13T14:18:15.000-05:00"},{"id":4363,"first_name":"Jean-Baptiste","last_name":"Tondji","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"University of Texas Rio Grande Valley","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Principles of Economics is impressive and extremely comprehensive. It covers interesting and current topics that are suitable and relevant for any principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics courses at the lower undergraduate level.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The textbook is accurate, error-free, and unbiased. The contents can be used to raise issues at the national and international levels. This is important given that we navigate in the world with many social networks and connections.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Principles of Economics is up-to-date since it tackles several current economic topics such as environmental protection, poverty, inequality, healthcare, race, gender, immigration, among others.  In future editions, I think topics such as protests, (social) justice, political polarization, pandemics (vaccines), and the future of the green economy might be useful for our undergraduate students. The text is written in such a way that it will not be tedious to implement such updates.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text presents a clear, concise, and accessible approach for each concept. The lucidity in the writing makes the contents easily accessible to every student, including the one to which English might not be the first language.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of both terminology and its framework. Principles of Economics is based on a solid pedagogical foundation. Each chapter builds on a case study and offers new facts and knowledge to extend the understanding of the current environment. The chapter ends with a summary of key terms, a brief summary of the contents, and assessments. The latter are arranged in a progressive path towards the learning goals. I think having some self-check questions at the end of each topic might also help. In the text, all problems and questions are relegated to the end of the chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text covers several relevant topics that are presented in a logical, and clear fashion.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Principles of Economics is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images (or charts), and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any grammatical or mechanical errors that could cloud meaning.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook covers a range of issues on immigration, gender, race with facts, and no bias at the national or international focus. Examples used are relevant and are not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Overall, Principles of Economics is an excellent textbook for all students in a face-to-face introduction to Microeconomics and Macroeconomics courses at the undergraduate level. The text is up-to-date, concise, clear, consistent, accurate, and it covers relevant topics with a national and international focus. The text also presents additional materials, such as the use of mathematics in economics, to complement the intuitive and applied sections. Finally, the text is well organized so that instructors can easily select appropriate contents to be covered in a full semester.","created_at":"2020-10-31T11:24:10.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-10-31T11:24:10.000-05:00"},{"id":33771,"first_name":"ATM","last_name":"Sayfuddin","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Randolph College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers almost all major areas typically contained in an introductory microeconomics textbook. However, I expected the chapter discussing \"public goods\" (chapter 13) to also discuss all four categories of goods - private goods, public goods, common resources, and quasi-public goods.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I the content of the book accurate.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Content is up-to-date. I liked the idea of using hyperlinks to external sources in the online version, allowing students to dig deeper into interesting ideas/scenarios in the real world.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"In my experience with my students, I think most of my students find the textbook written in clear and concise language, although use of more examples would be helpful.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"I see the value of introducing the concept of consumers' Budget Constraints and Production Possibility Frontier in chapter 2, but I still think those topics are better served in their own subsequent chapters - chapters 9 and 19, respectively - because the brief introduction of these topics in the 2nd chapter leaves many questions unanswered in the students' minds.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I liked the overall flow of the book.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The interface is user-friendly.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I liked the book most helpful because of the length of each chapter, which students find manageable rather than burdensome.","created_at":"2022-04-02T13:38:20.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-04-02T13:38:20.000-05:00"},{"id":34112,"first_name":"Lori","last_name":"Lavigne","position":"Professor","institution_name":"Framingham State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers all of the major topics from a intro micro course.  I would consider using this text in the future.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"yes","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Relevant, but typically always pulling recent events for examples.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Yes","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Consistent with other texts","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Well organized","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text covers the topics in the order that are typically covered.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Seems easy to navigate.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Grammar looks correct","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"NA","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2022-11-07T08:45:49.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-11-07T08:45:49.000-06:00"},{"id":34771,"first_name":"Yi","last_name":"Duan","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Marshall University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers all major topics in introductory microeconomics. It encompasses discussions on both theories and policies.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The majority of the content is precise and accurate. However, there can be some subtle issues. In 7.3 “Costs in the Short Run”, the gap between ATC (average total cost) and AVC (average variable cost) is AFC (average fixed cost), and AFC is supposed to decrease as output increases since the fixed cost is distributed across a larger number of units. But 7.3 fails to highlight this point and some of the graphs fail to show this feature.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The majority of the content is current, with discussions addressing the impact of recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Most of the content is clear and easily understandable. The “Clear It Up” sessions can be very helpful in clarifying some confusing content. However, some content can be improved. 5.1 “Price Elasticity of Demand and Price Elasticity of Supply” highlights the importance of using the absolute values for price elasticity of demand, but the following mathematical calculations simply equate negative values to positive values, which can be mathematically confusing; I suggest adding absolute value symbols in mathematical calculations to avoid this confusion.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The content and writing style maintain consistency throughout the entire book.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This book is well-organized into modular sections. The individual modules of the book collectively contribute to an enhanced overall understanding of the subject matter.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"In general, this book exhibits a well-organized structure. It adheres to the principles of microeconomics effectively.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The design and layout are good. I would appreciate the inclusion of graphs in high resolution.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This book introduces economic theories that apply to most of the countries in the world. In addition, Chapter 19 “International Trade” and Chapter 20 “Globalization and Protectionism” discuss economic interactions across countries.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This book is one of the best open textbooks featuring introductory microeconomics. I have seen tremendous improvement from the first edition to the current third edition.","created_at":"2023-12-05T13:02:01.000-06:00","updated_at":"2023-12-05T13:02:01.000-06:00"},{"id":35421,"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Huber","position":"Professor","institution_name":"Metropolitan State University of Denver","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I am very impressed at the quality of this free textbook. It covers most material that an instructor would want to teach in a principles level course, and does so in an engaging and relevant manner.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I do not see any errors in content.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The material is current and up-to-date with real-life examples that students will find relevant.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is very clear. I especially appreciate the “Clear it Up” text boxes to address common points of student confusion, such as the difference between demand and quantity demanded.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent but does sometimes seem to combine several topics in one chapter, rather than isolating them into separate sections. Some instructors will likely find that an advantage of this text, however.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"For the most part, the chapters are modular and able to be taught in any order. However, taxes are first discussed as part of the chapter on elasticity somewhat abruptly, rather than being purposefully introduced as its own section of the text. Taxes are never covered as a separate topic.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Chapters 1 and 2 seem to introduce most of the concepts for the entire course in a quick manner. This provides an overview of the course, but my own preference for teaching is to introduce the intuitive concepts (the economic way of thinking) at the beginning of the semester, while leaving introduction of utility maximization and indifference curves to optional material at the end of the semester. Depending on the prior preparation of my students, I often choose not to introduce consumer choice at the principles level. This textbook may only be appropriate for instructors who choose to introduce consumer choice theory early in the semester.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The online interface is easy to navigate and broken down into small digestible sections. The sets of review questions and problems at the end of each chapter will be helpful to students.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I do not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"With its up-to-date examples that current college students will find applicable to their own life, the text is relevant.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"There are extensive instructor resources to accompany the textbook, which will be particularly useful to instructors teaching this course online.","created_at":"2025-03-24T12:51:02.000-05:00","updated_at":"2025-03-24T12:51:02.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-microeconomics","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:35.000-06:00"}],"links":{"self":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences.json?page=1","total_pages":32,"total_count":315,"next":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/social-sciences.json?page=2"}}