Microeconomics in Context

Microeconomics in Context lays out the principles of microeconomics in a manner that is thorough, up to date, and relevant to students. Like its counterpart, Macroeconomics in Context, the book is uniquely attuned to economic, social, and environmental realities. The "in Context" books offer affordability, accessible presentation, and engaging coverage of current policy issues from economic inequality and global climate change to taxes and globalization.

Key features include:

• Clear explanations of basic concepts and analytical tools, with advanced models presented in optional chapter appendices;
• Presentation of policy issues in historical, environmental, institutional, social, political, and ethical contexts—an approach that fosters critical evaluation of the standard microeconomic models, such as welfare analysis, labor markets, and market competition;
• A powerful graphical presentation of various measures of well-being in the United States and other countries, including income inequality, taxes, educational attainment, and environmental quality;
• Broad definitions of well-being using both traditional economic metrics and factors such as environmental quality, health, equity, and political inclusion;
• Significantly revised chapters on globalization and trade, economic and social inequality, labor markets, and public goods;
• Expanded coverage of high-interest topics such as behavioral economics, labor markets, and economic discrimination;
• Full complement of instructor and student support materials online.

This new edition also features more international data and analysis, and further material on the importance of economic power in shaping policy. The latest addition to the "in Context" series combines real-world relevance with a thorough grounding in multiple economic paradigms.

Neva Goodwin is Co-Director of the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University, where she is the director of the electronic Social Science Library: Frontier Thinking in Sustainable Development and Human Well-Being. Her current interests focus on ecological restoration, especially with regard to soils.

Jonathan M. Harris is Senior Research Associate at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. His current research focuses on the implications of large-scale environmental problems, especially global climate change, for macroeconomic theory and policy.

Julie A. Nelson is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. Many of her books and articles critique economic methodology from a feminist perspective. She has published in journals ranging from Econometrica and the Journal of Political Economy to Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy and Ecological Economics.

Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. Her research covers a broad range of topics on women’s empowerment, economic development, and the impacts of globalization on developing economies. She has taught economics in visiting positions at Trinity College and University of Massachusetts Boston.

Brian Roach is Director of the Theory and Education Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, and a lecturer at Tufts and Brandeis Universities. He specializes in environmental economics, and is co-author (with Jonathan Harris) of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach.

Mariano Torras teaches economics at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. A heterodox economist who specializes in ecological and development economics, his recent research has been in the areas of institutional economics and economic methodology; particular attention has been on approaches to addressing climate change.