In most introductory textbooks on principles of economics, discussion of the theory or practice of entrepreneurship is almost entirely absent. This omission is striking, given the important role in economic growth that economists assign to the entrepreneur. While there are plausible explanations for this omission, new research suggests the…

The author argues that the college textbook market provides a clear example of monopoly seeking as described by Tullock (1967, 1980). This behavior is also known as rent seeking. Because this market is important to students, this example of rent seeking will be of particular interest to them. (Contains 24 notes.)

Authors of principles and price theory textbooks generally illustrate short-run production using a total product curve that displays first increasing and then diminishing marginal returns to employment of the variable input(s). Although it seems reasonable that a temporary range of increasing returns to variable inputs will likely occur as…

There is some confusion about the nature of the short-run expansion path (SREP) for the firm as presented in many intermediate microeconomics textbooks. The traditional view is that the SREP is a horizontal line because the firm is stuck with a fixed amount of capital. However, this view does not usually acknowledge that the firm could choose to…

Microeconomic principles courses focus on perfectly competitive markets far more than other market structures. The authors examine five possible reasons for this but find none of them sufficiently compelling. They conclude that textbook authors should place more emphasis on how economists select appropriate models and test models' predictions…

Authors of intermediate microeconomics textbooks devote relatively more space to imperfectly competitive markets than can be justified by their relative occurrence in actual markets. This gap has persisted for at least 40 years, even with an almost complete turnover of authors between the decades of the 1960s and the 2000s. This portrayal gives…

The author examines the effects of different introductory microeconomics textbooks on student performance in subsequent economics courses (specifically, Intermediate Microeconomics I and Money and Banking). In some cases, the effects are significant and sizeable. There is also evidence of other variables affecting student performance in later…

Fifty years ago what was taught in the principles of economics course reflected reasonably well what economists did in their research. That, however, is no longer the case; today what economists teach has a more nuanced relation to what they do. The reason is that the economics profession and the textbooks have evolved differently. The author…

Many introductory microeconomics textbook authors derive the law of demand from the assumption of diminishing marginal utility. Authors of intermediate and graduate textbooks derive demand from diminishing marginal rate of substitution and ordinal preferences. These approaches are not interchangeable; diminishing marginal utility for all goods is…

States that short-run production theory and U-shaped cost curves do not conform to industrial reality. Explores in detail the reality of manufacturing stating that fixed proportions seem more suited to describing short-run manufacturing processes. Addresses fixed proportions in short-run production and short-run cost functions. Includes…

In Australia, the authors learned it is common to ask one or more conference participants to summarize and assess the conference in a final "closing" session. They found the experience of serving as "closers" strangely similar to what students are asked to do in providing an overall assessment of a course or instructor at the…

Explores the importance of second-order conditions in the cost-minimization problem confronting the monopsonistic employer of factor inputs. Describes an alternative approach to the presence of pecuniary effects that does not depend on the assumption that firms are monopsonistic in factor markets. (CMK)

Provides comments by Nobel laureate Paul A. Samuelson, Harold W. McGraw Jr., William D. Nordhaus, Orley Ashenfelter, Robert M. Solow, and Stanley Fischer on Samuelson's introductory textbook "Economics," as presented at the 1998 American Economic Association meetings in Chicago (Illinois). (CMK)

The authors summarize the results of a survey of 1,365 instructors of advanced placement (AP) economics courses; responses were received from 296 instructors (21.7 percent). The authors discuss the respondents' textbook preferences, graduate and undergraduate backgrounds, teaching experiences, and evaluations of nontextbook teaching materials.

Believes that the World Wide Web has great potential for delivering interactive computer-aided instruction using programming language like Java and Javascript. Describes a website on object-oriented microeconomics that integrates a textbook, mini-lecture series, graphical calculator, animated drawing program, spreadsheet, and regression package.…