Maintains that it is generally assumed that rent control redistributes wealth from landlords to consumers of housing. Presents data and graphs to illustrate how rent control can benefit landlords and increase housing availability. Asserts that this exercise is effective for students studying microeconomic theory. (CFR)

Recommends reviewing the 1958 debate between P. A. Samuelson and J. R. Minasian over the controversy involving tax-financed television versus pay-TV. This exercise is a lively way to introduce students to the issue of exclusionary devices for public goods. Includes graphical analysis and excerpts from the original debates. (MJP)

Describes an attempt to analyze and improve the connection between intermediate microeconomic theory courses and applied theory courses. Examines the data collection, policy analysis, program design, and materials production stages of this process. Includes a table of most-valued microeconomic skills compared with allocation of time to teach those…

Presents a model of the economic theory of regulation and recommends its use in undergraduate economics classes. Describes the use of computer-assisted instruction to teach the theory. Maintains that the approach enables students to gain access to graphs and tables that they produce themselves. (CFR)

Maintains that most economics textbooks continue to repeat past mistakes concerning returns to scale and economies of scale under assumptions of constant and nonconstant input prices. Provides an adaptation for a calculus-based intermediate microeconomics class that demonstrates the pointwise relationship between returns to scale and economies of…

Illustrates how a computer software symbolic-processing program can be easily incorporated into an advanced undergraduate microeconomics course. Symbolic-processing programs are relatively sophisticated software packages that combine numeric, symbolic, and graphic computation in a single unified computing environment. Includes examples of…

Describes a class where students learn microeconomics from the perspective of a new business owner. This approach requires reordering the typical sequence of material and introducing a market simulation exercise. Includes a sample business plan, course outline, and data tables. (MJP)

Identifies four microeconomic concepts students should learn before entering the study of intermediate macroeconomics. Included are relative prices, general versus partial equilibrium, constrained optimization, and the nature of production concepts. Recommends making intermediate microeconomics a prerequisite for intermediate macroeconomics. (MJP)

Reconsiders Uriel Spiegel's analysis of the Giffen phenomenon, a utility function that yields an inferior good with an upward-sloping demand curve. Extends this to include similar utility functions that yield inferiority. Discusses the earlier work of related theorists including Liebhafsky, Vandermeulen, and Wold and Jureen. (MJP)

Reexamines Spiegel's analysis of the Giffen phenomenon, a utility function that yields an inferior good with an upward-sloping demand curve and incorporates Christian Weber's criticism into the model. Disagrees with Weber on some points but agrees that as income decreases the likelihood of the Giffen product decreases. (MJP)

Uses a graphical analysis to determine the importance of quantity for consumer welfare and to examine the manner in which private and social welfare diverge in a monopoly. Criticizes the opinion that technology adoption by a monopoly always assumes a uniformly downward shift in the marginal cost curve. (MJP)

Describes an economics class experiment where students ranked the quality of baked pies according to limited information. The limited sets of information included brand name and packaging only, price only, advertising only, word-of-mouth, and taste test. Discusses signals of quality and consumer decisions. (MJP)

Criticizes the standard presentation, in introductory economics, of the burden of a tax as an application of elasticity. Argues that using the slopes of a supply and demand curve is the simplest and easiest way to clarify tax incidence. Includes three graphs illustrating this approach. (MJP)

Discusses the career of Rendigs Fels from his first academic appointment in 1948 until the present. Concludes that Fels is one of a small number of respected economists who have made interest, involvement, and research in the teaching of economics an important and respectable part of the profession. (CFR)

Maintains that a proper understanding of the Augustin Cournot model of imperfect competition and strategic interactions among firms in various contexts is essential for economics education. Although most models rely on complicated algebra, this one requires nothing more than high school level geometry. Includes a graphical analysis. (MJP)