Microeconomics as a Social Science

While recognising the variation within each approach, Microeconomics as a Social Science focuses on two broad classes of economic ideologies: those built on methodological individualism where social formations reflect the characteristics of individuals, and social science theories where social formations are independent of individuals and determine individual characteristics. Within each system, there are alternative variants, with different approaches and politics. While methodological individualism tilts towards "laissez faire" and social science towards public "intervention," there are arguments within both perspectives favoring either political policy.

Table of Contents:
Figure List Table List Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Introduction: Why Economics? The Queen of the Social Sciences? Methodological Individualism and Social Science Models, Parameters, and Economic Science The Politics of Economic Theory Treating Efficiency and Equity Why Do We Work? Incentives, Compulsion, and Respect Economic Theory and Power Price Theory and Economic Analysis Economic Theory and Individualism The Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz, Candide, and the Presuppositions of Economic Theory Liberalism, Individualism, and Rise of the Bourgeoisie? Value Theory Classical Political Economy and Karl Marx From Political Economy to Neoclassical Economics Keynes and Economic Methodology Social Life and the Economy: The Division of Labor, Social and Detailed Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 2 Economics, Well-Being, and the Limits of Markets Paradoxes of Wealth The Social Creation of Need Positional Goods Community Caring Labor Care Labor and the Efficiency of the Market Care Work Enriches Our Society's Future Does Caring Undermine Economic Growth? Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 3 Marginal Utility and Neoclassical Consumer Demand Theory Why Do We Care Where Preferences Come From? Coffee, Diminishing Marginal Utility, and Neoclassical Demand Theory Demand Curves Slope down for Individuals Constructing Aggregate Community Demand Curves from Individual Demand Do Aggregate Demand Curves Really Slope Down? Shifting Demand Elasticity of Demand: Measuring Responsiveness of Quantity Demanded to Prices Consumer Surplus Makes Life Worth Living Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 4 Supply: By Monopolies and Others Marginal Productivity: Robinson Crusoe as an Entrepreneur Marginal This and Marginal That: Marginal Cost Supply Curves and Perfect Competition Marginal Revenue and Real Markets Monopoly: The Market Norm Monopolistic Competition and Business Strategy Rents, Profits, and Producer Surplus under Monopoly and under Perfect Competition Producer Surplus, Fixed Costs, and Profits What Do Businesses Really Maximize Anyway? Shifting Supply Curves? Do Long-Run Marginal Costs Slope Up? Appendix: Comparison of Monopoly and Perfect Competition Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 5 Markets and Equilibrium Finding Peace? The Case against Government and the Wonders of Perfect Competition in Atomistic Markets Perfect Competition in Atomistic Markets Is Irrelevant. In Real Markets, Price Setting May Be Good What Might Move the Equilibrium Point? Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 6 Why Economists Don't Study Institutions, but Should Social Institutions and Transactions Costs: The Norms and Values of a Productive Society The Economic Value of Trust Is Love Efficient? Is There a Politics behind Methodological Individualism? Efficient Markets for Social Institutions: Or Why Neoclassicists Ignore History and Why This Is a Mistake The Independence of Institutions Explaining the Evolution of Institutions? Production Possibility Frontiers and Efficiency Bargaining Power and the Distribution of Power Moving the PPF Public and Private Goods Taxing and Subsidizing Goods with Externalities Markets and Externalities: Can They Be Made Compatible? Collective Action and Game Theory Tit for Tat Externalities and Property Rights Appendix: Drawing PPFs Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 7 Capitalism, Slavery, and the Economy Economic Institutions and the Duality of Human Nature Building a Market Economy: Slavery Slavery Abroad and Proletarianization at Home The Politics of Proletarianization Slavery, Family Labor, and Challenges to Capitalism Circuits of Capital: Capitalism and Profit Social Structures of Accumulation Capitalism and Monopoly The Expansion of Capital Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 8 Citizenship, Rights, and Dollars Housing the Rich and Others The Unequal Distribution of Income Why Have the Rich Gained? How Do You Become a Rich American? Inequality, Inheritance, and Policy If Life Was a Thing That Money Could Buy, the Rich Would Live, and the Poor Would Die Earnings Disparities and Education The Politics of Inequality: CEO Pay Declining Unionization Minimum Wages and Income Support Free Trade Citizenship and the Market Leaky Buckets and Other Fables Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 9 Which Is Fixed Exogenously: Technology or Wages? Philosophers Have Hitherto Only Interpreted the World in Various Ways; The Point Is to Change It The Demand for Labor: Labor's Marginal Product? The Supply of Wage Labor Income and Substitution Effects Backward Bending Labor Supply Curves Compensating Differentials Trends in the Labor Force Participation Rate: Women and Men Husbands and Fathers, Wives and Mothers Trends in Labor Supply: Hours Worked Market Supply and Demand for Labor Where MRP and Supply Curves Intersect: A Happy Tale, If It Were True Immigration and the Labor Supply to the United States Social Institutions and Politics in Wage Determination Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 10 The Social Determination of Productivity and Employment Wages Cause Productivity and Social Rules Determine Who Gets Jobs Efficiency Wages and Productivity Henry Ford's Five Dollar Day How Efficiency Wages Raise Productivity Wage Contours, Internal Job Markets, and High- and Low-Road Companies Efficiency Wages in Public Policy Efficiency Wages: Unions, Efficiency, Democracy Unions and Democracy: Bosses and a Democratic Workplace? Economic Democracy: Capitalism, Unions, and Worker Self-Management The Social Determinants of Labor Supply: Differentials by Gender and Race Why Neoclassical Economists Do Not Believe in Discrimination: The Jackie Robinson Story Explaining Discrimination: Preferences or Norms? Crowding, Wealth, and Norms Wealth, Norms, and Crowding Crowding and Endogenous Labor Supply Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 11 Time, Risk, and Uncertainty What Do Financial Markets Do? Jam Tomorrow, or Jam Today? Liquidity, Time Preference, and the Interest Rate on Future Cash Risk, Uncertainty, and the Risk-Return Frontier Efficient Capital Markets Inefficient Financial Markets? Sources of Imperfect Financial Markets: Monopolies, Asymmetric Information, and Herds I Will Be Gone, You Will Be Gone Financial Market Success: Manipulation, Brilliance, and Emotional Intelligence Keywords Discussion Questions Chapter 12 Social Welfare States Government Keeps Growing The Public Sector: What It Is and What It Does Correcting Market Failures by Providing Public Goods Correcting Market Failures with Social Insurance Lemons, Moral Hazard, Adverse Selection, and the Failure of Private Insurance How Social Insurance Overcomes Problems of Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection American Exceptionalism Debating States and Politics The Division of Labor, Justice, and a Good Society Keywords Discussion Questions Glossary The Evolution of Economic Ideas Bibliography Credits