Real World Micro

Note: If you are a student at UMass-Amherst, please order through Collective Copies/Levellers Press (link here), or you may want to purchase a copy at Collective Copies at 71 S. Pleasant St. in Amherst. If you order through Dollars & Sense, there may be significant delays.

Edition:29th

Date of publication:June 2022

ISBN:978-1-939402-62-2

Price:$42.50

• About
• Table of Contents

The thoroughly updated and revised 29th edition of Real World Micro contains new articles addressing the latest real-world issues and controversies—including the “Great Resignation” in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, the false promises of cryptocurrencies, and the economic causes of Boeing’s troubled safety record—and ongoing issues such as the minimum wage, tech monopolies, the “gig” economy, stock-market gyrations, and trade policy. The articles in Real World Micro bring complex topics to life and highlight the effects of economic change on communities, workers, and the environment.

Organized to follow the outline of a standard economics text, the book includes a brief introduction for each chapter, including discussion questions for all articles, to help students relate the articles to the theories in standard textbooks. Its contents provide vivid, real-world illustrations of key economic concepts.

Real World Micro’s well-researched, readable articles are drawn from the pages of Dollars & Sense, the leading magazine of popular economics.

Please click on the "Table of Contents" tab above to see what’s in the new 29th edition.

"The principles of economics books (yes, even mine) tend to be on the dull side and leave aspects of the economy and economics unchallenged. Real World Micro and Macro can spice up your course and lead students to ask the type of questions they should be asking." —DAVID COLANDER, Middlebury College

"I’ve had great success with Real World Micro. Students really like its short, snappy analysis of current events and feel challenged by its alternative viewpoint." —SUSAN HELPER, Case Western Reserve University

Note: This is the table of contents for the latest (29th) edition of Real World Micro. If you are ordering a pdf of an earlier edition of this title, please ask your instructor for that edition's table of contents, and make sure you order your pdf using the URL your instructor gave you.

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Markets: Ideology and Reality
  • Introduction
  • 1.1 The Unreal Basis of Neoclassical EconomicsAl Campbell, Ann Davis, David Fields, Paddy Quick, Jared Ragusett, and Geoffrey Schneider
  • 1.2 What I Learned (and Didn't Learn) in Econ 100Tim Koechlin
  • 1.3 Shaking the Invisible HandChris Tilly
  • 1.4 Pursuing Profits—Or Power?James K. Boyce
  • 1.5 Freedom, Equity, and EfficiencyAlejandro Reuss
  • 1.6 Sharing the Wealth of the CommonsPeter Barnes
  • 1.7 The Future of Work, Leisure, and ConsumptionAn Interview with Juliet Schor
• Chapter 2: Supply and Demand
  • Introduction
  • 2.1 Price Gouging: It’s Just Supply and DemandMarc Breslow
  • 2.2 The Economics of Residential Rent ControlStephen Barton
  • 2.3 Getting Up to Speed on the Minimum WageJohn Miller
  • 2.4 Drugs and Global CapitalismSasha Breger Bush
  • 2.5 Are Governments Economically Stupid in Failing to Suspend Patent Protection for Vaccines?Arthur MacEwan
  • 2.6 Leaky Governance: The Politics and Economics of Fuel Theft in MexicoFrancisco J. Aldape
  • 2.7 Crypto Will Not Liberate UsHadas Thier
• Chapter 3: Consumers
  • Introduction
  • 3.1 The 800-Pound Ronald McDonald in the RoomHelen Scharber
  • 3.2 Underbanked and OverchargedDeborah M. Figart
  • 3.3 Forced Arbitration Is Bad for ConsumersHeidi Shierholz
  • 3.4 The Limits of Ethical ConsumerismMarc Triller
  • 3.5 Campus Struggles Against Sweatshops ContinueSarah Blaskey and Phil Gasper
  • 3.6 Leveraging Financial Markets for Social JusticeDoug Orr
• Chapter 4: Firms, Production, and Profit Maximization
  • Introduction
  • 4.1 What Are Corporations?Alejandro Reuss
  • 4.2 If Corporations Are People, What Kind of People Are They?Geoff Schneider
  • 4.3 What’s Good for Wal-Mart ...John Miller
  • 4.4 Neutralized: Big Tech's Retreat from Net NeutralityRob Larson
  • 4.5 Caring by the Dollar: Nursing Homes, Private Equity, and Covid-19Bill Barclay
  • 4.6 Boeing Hijacked by Shareholders and Execs!Marie Christine Duggan
• Chapter 5: Market Failure I: Market Power
  • Introduction
  • 5.1 Is Small Beautiful? Is Bigger Better?Chris Tilly
  • 5.2 A Brief History of Mergers and Antitrust PolicyEdward Herman
  • 5.3 Monopoly EverywhereArmağan Gezici
  • 5.4 Monopoly So Fragile: Container Ships Are Too Big to SailCory Doctorow
  • 5.5 Hopsopoly: Global Beer Mergers Reach a New LevelRob Larson
  • 5.6 The Bankruptcy Games: Private Equity Case StudiesBill Barclay
  • 5.7 How 'Big Oil' Works the System and Keeps WinningNaomi Orsekes and Jeff Nesbit
  • 5.8 Power, Wages, and InequalityArthur MacEwan
• Chapter 6: Market Failure II: Externalities
  • Introduction
  • 6.1 Why the Climate Crisis Is Also the Crisis of CapitalismYing Chen And Güney Işikara
  • 6.2 Pricing the Priceless: Inside the Strange World of Cost–Benefit AnalysisLisa Heinzerling and Frank Ackerman
  • 6.3 Can We Afford a Stable Climate?Frank Ackerman
  • 6.4 Inequality, Sunk Costs, and Climate JusticeFrank Ackerman
  • 6.5 Mapping Environmental InjusticeKlara Zwickl, Michael Ash, and James K. Boyce
  • 6.6 Climate Change, Social Justice, and the Green New DealArthur MacEwan
• Chapter 7: Labor Markets
  • Introduction
  • 7.1 The Great ResignationJohn Miller
  • 7.2 Covid Destroyed the Illusions of the Restaurant IndustryEoin Higgins
  • 7.3 Can the Decline of Organized Labor Be Reversed?Arthur MacEwan
  • 7.4 Household Labor, Caring Labor, Unpaid LaborNancy Folbre
  • 7.5 Essential—and Expendable—Mexican LaborMateo Crossa and James M. Cypher
  • 7.6 Credible Strike ThreatsRobert Ovetz
  • 7.7 The Fight for $20 and a UnionMarty Bennett
  • 7.8 “Free” Labor and Unequal Freedom of ExpressionZoe Sherman
• Chapter 8: The Distribution of Income and Wealh
  • Introduction
  • 8.1 Geese, Golden Eggs, and TrapsChris Tilly
  • 8.2 The Rise in InequalityAlejandro Reuss
  • 8.3 "Equal Pay" Is Not So EqualJohn Miller
  • 8.5 Undervaluation Is a Certainty: Measuring Black Women’s Wage GapAn Interview with Michelle Holder
  • 8.6 The Undeserving RichGar Alperovitz and Lew Daly
  • 8.7 Do People Care About Extreme Inequality?Arthur MacEwan
  • 8.8 Concentration of Stock OwnershipEd Ford
  • 8.9 Financialization and InequalityArthur MacEwan
• Chapter 9: Taxation
  • Introduction
  • 9.1 Can Tax Cuts Really Increase Government Revenue?Ellen Frank
  • 9.2 The Great Tax-Cut ExperimentGerald Friedman
  • 9.3 Are Taxes the Best Way of Dealing with Inequality?Arthur MacEwan
  • 9.4 The Optimal TaxJohn Miller
  • 9.5 Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains Is Key to Undoing Tax InjusticeJohn Miller
  • 9.6 Corporate Taxes: Less, Less, and LessArthur MacEwan
• Chapter 10: Trade and Development
  • Introduction
  • 10.1 Comparative AdvantageRamaa Vasudevan
  • 10.2 The Globalization ClockThomas Palley
  • 10.3 Does U.S. Prosperity Depend on Exploitation?Arthur MacEwan
  • 10.4 Whatever Happened to Development?Jawied Nawabi
  • 10.5 Ford Drives Away from BrazilDébora Nunes
  • 10.6 The Political Economy of Power vs. Policy in Gabriel Boric’s ChileJames M. Cypher
• Contributors

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