Economics [antikvár]

PREFACE As is true of any other activity, the authoring of a textbook entails both costs and benefits. The primary cost is the investment of an inordinate amount of time. One of the less obvious benefits is the opportunity for revision. Although it is a highly demanding and sometimes dreary undertaking, revision affords the chance for improvement—to delete the archaic and install the novel, to rectify errors of omission or commission, to rephrase potentially misleading statements, to introduce more relevant illustrations, to bring more pertinent data to bear, to upgrade organizational logic—in short, to build constructively upon a tested framework of ideas. Much of my time these past two years has been devoted to the preparation of this eighth edition of Economics. I hope and trust that those who examine this new edition will agree that I have exploited fully the opportunity afforded me. In my judgment this is the most extensive revision of Economics undertaken in the twenty years of its existence. Although the eighth edition bears only a modest resemblance to the first, the basic purpose remains the same: to introduce the beginning economics student to those principles essential to an understanding of fundamental economic problems and the policy alternatives society may utilize to contend with these problems. It is hoped that the ability to reason accurately and objectively about economic matters and the development of a lasting interest in economics will be two valuable byproducts of this basic objective. Furthermore, my intention remains that of presenting the principles and problems of economics in a straightforward, logical fashion. To this end great stress has been put upon clarity of presentation and organization. ? THE EIGHTH EDITION Each chapter in the eighth edition has been subjected to a topic-by-topic, line-by-line evaluation; none has escaped content revision, rewriting for greater clarity, organizational improvement, and updating. The extensive-ness of this revision reflects a variety of considerations: the insightful suggestions of some twenty-six scholars who reviewed the seventh edition; new developments in the domestic and world economies and concomitant changes in economic theory and policy; and, in no small measure, continued growth in the number of excellent competing tests on the market. xxiii