This text remains a proven leader in the world of economics. Since introducing the aggregate supply/ aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning economics over two decades ago, in this edition William J. Baumol and Alan S. Blinder continue their long tradition of equipping students with the knowledge and tools they need to apply modern economics to their world. Hallmark features include one of the strongest policy treatments on the market and a careful and in-depth focus on the most important economic tools students should retain after the course is over. ÍNDICE: PART I. GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH ECONOMICS 1. What Is Economics? 2. Scarcity and Choice: The Economic Problem 3. Supply and Demand: An Initial Look PART II. THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY 4. Consumer Choice: Individual and Market Demand 5. Demand and Elasticity 6. Production, Inputs, and Cost: Building Blocks for Supply Analysis 7. Output, Price, and Profit: The Importance of Marginal Analysis PART III. MARKETS, FROM COMPETITION TO MONOPOLY: VIRTUES AND VICES 8. The Firm and the Industry Under Perfect Competition 9. The Price System and the Case for Free Markets 10. Monopoly 11. Between Competition and Monopoly 12. The Market Mechanism: Shortcomings and Remedies 13. Microeconomics of the "New Economy": Innovation and Growth 14. Real Firms and their Financing: Stocks and Bonds PART IV. THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME 15. Pricing the Factors of Production 16. Labor: The Human Input 17. Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination PART V. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ECONOMY 18. Limiting Market Power: Regulation and Antitrust 19. Taxation and Resource Allocation 20. Externalities, the Environment and Natural Resources. PART VI. THE MACROECONOMY: AGGREGATE SUPPLY AND DEMAND 21. The Realm of Macroeconomics 22. The Goals of Macroeconomic Policy 23. Economic Growth: Theory and Policy 24. Aggregate Demand and the Powerful Consumer 25. Demand-Side Equilibrium: Unemployment or Inflation? 26. Supply-Side Equili