Robert Guell?s Issues in Economics Today employs a unique format that allows instructors and students the flexibility to choose which issues they wish to cover in their one-semester survey course. The book begins with eight intensive core theory chapters followed by thirty-four shorter issues chapters that can be easily mixed and matched to create a customized course syllabus. In the preface, the author provides a list of suggested issues to cover in a course with specific themes, such as social policy, international issues, or business. For those instructors who want to ?do it themselves,? the author has also included a grid that shows which theory chapters need to be mastered before moving on to each issue chapter. Instructors and students alike will appreciate the solid theoretical foundation as well as the intriguing and timely economic issues explored in the book, such as sports, education, and ticket scalping. Table of Contents

Preface

Issues for Different Course Themes

Required Theory Table

I. Theory Chapters

1: Economics: The Study of Opportunity Cost

2: Supply and Demand

3: The Concept of Elasticity and Consumer and Producer Surplus

4: Interest Rates and Present Value

5: Firm Production, Cost, and Revenue

6: Perfect Competition, Monopoly, and Economic versus Normal Profit

7: Every Macroeconomic Word You Ever Heard: Gross Domestic Product, Inflation, Unemployment, Recession, and Depression

8: Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand

II. Issues Chapters

Part 1: Macroeconomic Issues

9: Federal Spending

10: Federal Deficits, Surpluses, and the National Debt

11: Fiscal Policy

12: Monetary Policy

13: Overstatement of the Cost of Living by the CPI

Part 2: International Issues

14: International Trade

15: International Monetary Fund

16: NAFTA, GATT, and the WTO

Part 3: Externalities and Market Failure

17: Drugs and Prostitution

18: Tobacco and Alcohol

19: Environment

Part 4: Health Issues

20: Health Care

21: Medicaid

22: Medicare

23: Prescription Drugs

Part 5: Governmental Solutions to Societal Problems

24: Crime

25: Education

26: Poverty and Welfare

27: Social Security

28: Head Start

Part 6: Discrimination Issues

29: Race and Affirmative Action

30: Gender

31: The Economics of Children

Part 7: Price Control Issues

32: Farm Policy

33: Minimum Wage

34: Rent Control

35: Ticket Brokers and Scalping

Part 8: Miscellaneous Markets

36: Personal Income Taxes

37: Taxing the Returns on Capital

38: Anti-Trust

39: Energy Prices

40: If They Build It, Will They Come? And Other Sports Questions

41: The Stock Market and Crashes

42: Unions

Glossary