Microeconomics For Dummies - UK, UK Edition

Microeconomics For Dummies (with content specific to the UK reader) is designed to help you understand the economics of individuals. Using concise explanations and accessible content that tracks directly to an undergraduate course, this book provides a student-focused course supplement with an in-depth examination of each topic. This invaluable companion provides clear information and real-world examples that bring microeconomics to life and introduces you to all the key concepts. From supply and demand to market competition, you'll understand how the economy works on an individual level, and how it affects you every day. Before long, you'll be conversant in consumers, costs, and competition.

Microeconomics is all about the behaviour of individual people and individual firms. It sounds pretty straightforward, but it gets complicated early on. You may not be an economist, but if you're a business student at university, the odds are you need to come to grips with microeconomics. That's where Microeconomics For Dummies comes in, walking you through the fundamental concepts and giving you the understanding you need to master the material.

• Understand supply, demand, and equilibrium
• Examine the consumer decision making process
• Delve into elasticity and costs of production
• Learn why competition is healthy and monopolies are not

Even the brightest business students can find economics intimidating, but the material is essential to a solid grasp of how the business world works. The good news is that you've come to the right place.

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Started with Microeconomics 5

Chapter 1: Discovering Why Microeconomics Is a Big Deal 7

Chapter 2: Considering Consumer Choice: Why Economists Find You Fascinating! 17

Chapter 3: Looking at Firm Behaviour: What They Are and What They Do 31

Part II: Doing the Best You Can: Consumer Theory 43

Chapter 4: Living a Life without Limits 45

Chapter 5: Considering the Art of the Possible: The Budget Constraint 55

Chapter 6: Achieving the Optimum in Spite of Constraints 67

Part III: Uncovering the Alchemy of Firms’ Inputs and Outputs 85

Chapter 7: Working with Different Costs and Cost Curves 87

Chapter 8: Squeezing Out Every Last Drop of Profit 105

Chapter 9: Supplying the Demanded Information on Supply and Demand 117

Chapter 10: Dreaming of the Consumer’s Delight: Perfect Competition 137

Part IV: Delving into Markets, Market Failure and Welfare Economics 149

Chapter 11: Stepping into the Real World: Oligopoly and Imperfect Competition 151

Chapter 12: Appreciating the Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics 167

Chapter 13: Controlling Markets with a Monopoly 179

Chapter 14: Examining Market Failure: Pollution and Parks 197

Chapter 15: Understanding the Dangers of Asymmetric Information 209

Part V: Thinking Strategically: Life Is Just a Game! 219

Chapter 16: Playing Games with Economic Theory 221

Chapter 17: Keeping Things Stable: The Nash Equilibrium 239

Chapter 18: Knowing How to Win at Auctions 249

Chapter 19: Deciphering the Signals: Threats and Benefits 261

Part VI: The Part of Tens 271

Chapter 20: Meeting Ten Great Microeconomists 273

Chapter 21: Ten Top Tips to Take Away 281

Glossary 289

Index 295

• Primary market: Undergraduate students in business.
• Secondary market: Undergraduate economics students, MBA students and lifelong learners.

Peter Antonioni is a senior teaching fellow at the Department of Management Science and Innovation, University College, London, and coauthor of Economics For Dummies, 2nd UK Edition. Manzur Rashid, PhD, is a lecturer at New College of the Humanities, where he covers second year micro- and macroeconomics.