Principles of Microeconomics
by N. Gregory Mankiw
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Book Summary Information
Author: N. Gregory MankiwEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-01-27
ISBN: 0324319169
Number of pages: 533
Publisher: Thompson South-Western
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Book Reviews of Principles of Microeconomics
Book Review: extremely narrow
Summary: 1 Stars
Joseph Schumpeter once encouraged his readers to make up their mind whether they wanted simple or useful answers, because both could not be had at the same time. Mankiw opts for the former option. A student who knows little about economics and who will be exposed to the discipline for the first time by using this textbook will get a very narrow view of economics. He or she will have no idea that there are strong disagreements about economic phenomena and even different schools of thought. This can be expected: Mankiw is a neoclassical economist, that school is dominant for one reason or another, so few would expect him to go out of his way to point out that there are different intellectual traditions in economics. However, Mankiw does not even bother much to point out disagreements within the mainstream either. For him, economics is a quasi-scientific discipline that clearly explains how things are; thus, economists disagree solely because of values.
That is a gross mischaracterization: neoclassical economists disagree a lot on theoretical issues, too. Mankiw's own colleague at Harvard - Dani Rodrik - described these disagreements mainly springing from the division between "first-best economists" and "second-best economists". The former group (Becker, Cowen, Mankiw) almost always finds a solution in the supply-demand framework and competitive markets. The latter group (Stiglitz, Rodrik, Akerlof) search for more nuanced and contextual explanations. Mankiw's only reference to "second-best" issues like imperfect information and behavioral economics is relegated to a couple paltry pages in the end of the book where it can be safely forgotten. The minimum wage is a case in point: Mankiw uses the simple supply-demand framework to "prove" that minimum wage causes unemployment. In fact, this view has lost popularity even among neoclassical economists. Recently over 600 American economists (including several Nobel laureates such as one of the fathers of modern neoclassical economics Kenneth Arrow!) signed the petition to increase the minimum wage in the US. Some of the most important research disproving Mankiw's claim has been done by people as mainstream as David Card (Berkeley) and Alan Krueger (Princeton).
Trade is another example. When arguing for "free" trade, Mankiw goes through possible counterarguments. The "infant industry" argument (supported by the "father" of economics Adam Smith himself) is dismissed after one paragraph. If these infant industries are of any promise, Mankiw proclaims, the private sector will take them up. Never mind uncertainty (not risk, but uncertainty). Never mind the fact that the US used protective barriers designed by Hamilton to allow its industries mature, never mind the fact that Japan and Korea developed using the same method. Never mind the fact that a very recent Commission on Growth and Development (which includes someone as mainstream as the Nobel laureate Bob Solow) concluded that "Government intervention in the economy, and a degree of protectionism, will be needed in the early stages of development".
My final example is the agency assumption. To act with a degree of self-interest is one thing, but to be a selfish and calculating sociopath is another. The mainstream is more and more open to alternative ideas about agency. Kenneth Arrow himself once said that if human beings were to act as utility-maximizers all the time, society and all of its social ties would be pretty much destroyed. The mainstream borrows more and more from behavioral economics, behavioral game theory, etc. Samuel Bowles, for one, does a good job of effectively combing the ideas of the mainstream with alternative ideas about agency. Of course, Mankiw does not care. I could go on, but I think this is enough.
Adbusters Magazine called "one of the most effective and talented propagandists of our times". That might be an exaggeration, but beware and hope that your instructor will add at least some nuance to Mankiw's exposition of economics. I was quite fortunate since my instructor, while thoroughly neoclassical, at least made sure to spell out the assumptions and point out which ones were more arbitrary than others (e.g. constant marginal utility of money in welfare economics) and when exactly economists are being sneaky (e.g. gains from free trade, even if all assumptions hold, are only a potential Pareto improvement). Some others may not be so lucky.
Summary of Principles of Microeconomics
Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbooks continue to be the most popular and widely used text in the economics classroom. PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS, 4th Edition features a strong revision of content in all 22 chapters while maintaining the clear and accessible writing style that is the hallmark of the highly respected author. The 4th edition also features an expanded instructor's resource package designed to assist instructors in course planning and classroom presentation and full integration of content with Aplia, the leading online Economics education program. In the 4th edition Greg Mankiw has created a full educational program for students and instructors -- Experience Mankiw 4th edition. "I have tried to put myself in the position of someone seeing economics for the first time. My goal is to emphasize the material that students should and do find interesting about the study of the economy." - N. Gregory Mankiw.General Books
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