Microeconomic Theory

Description

Contrary to widely held beliefs, microeconomic theory bears no rela­ tion to the size of the product under consideration; indeed a micro theorist can just as easily discuss the sale of a whale as he would discuss a whale of a sale in amoebae. In fact, it possibly is true that a theorist, and a microeconomic theorist in particular, does not have any specific products in mind when he bandies his propositions about. Nor does he have to. For these in the final analysis are just that; propositions. They are propositions that are motivated by economic reality as observable, not to mention controllable, as that may be, but they are no more and no less than comments about that economic reality and they emphatically are not descriptive assays of it. They are more or less, caricatures of economic reality or metaphors where bold distortions are pressed to the task of describing preconceived visions of that reality. These visions, given their fundamentally qualitative nature, are hardly fit to be put to the test of statistical verification. Perhaps only the judgement and "intuitive feel" of practicing economists over the years are the only true tests of the viability and robustness of these propositional comments on economic reality which make up the body of economic theory. It is not the abstractions that make the difference, all science is that way; metaphoric. Front Matter....Pages I-XIII Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Preferences, Utility and Choice....Pages 3-17 Demand....Pages 18-52 Topics in Demand Analysis....Pages 53-64 Front Matter....Pages 65-65 Costs and Production....Pages 67-86 Price Taking Firms....Pages 87-106 Industry Supply and Industry Equilibrium in a Competitive Market....Pages 107-120 Back Matter....Pages 120-125 Front Matter....Pages 127-127 Monopoly....Pages 129-142 Duopoly and Oligopoly....Pages 143-175 Monopolistic Competition....Pages 176-195 Topics in the Theory of the Firm....Pages 196-202 Back Matter....Pages 203-208 Front Matter....Pages 209-209 Production Possibility Set, Activity Analysis and Equilibria of Production Sectors....Pages 211-227 Introduction to Welfare Economics and General Equilibrium Analysis....Pages 228-240 Back Matter....Pages 241-274