Description
Remember the last time you were in unfamiliar parts and had to ask for directions? Along with the directions came the standard comment, "You can't miss it!" So how come you missed it? Because the "landmark," so obvious to locals, was invisible to you, a stranger. Writing a principles textbook is much like giving directions. Familiarity is a must, but that very familiarity can cloud the author's ability to see the material through the fresh eyes of a new student. One could revert to a tell-all approach, but that will bury students in information. An alternative is to opt for the minimalist approach, writing abstractly about good x and good y, units of labor and units of capital, or the proverbial widget. But that shorthand turns economics into a foreign language.
Good directions rely on landmarks familiar to us all-a stoplight, a tork in the road, a white picket fence. Likewise, a good textbook builds bridges from the familiar to the new. That's what I try to do-lead by example. By beginning with examples that draw on common experience. I try to create graphic images that need little explanation, thereby eliciting from the reader that light of recognition, that "Aha!" I believe that the shortest distance between an economic principle and student comprehension is a lively example. Examples should convey the point quickly and directly. Having to explain an example is like having to explain a joke and the point gets lost. Throughout the book, I try to provide just enough intuition and institutional detail to get the point across. My emphasis is on economic ideas, not economic jargon. Students show up the first day of class with at least 17 years of experience with economic choices, economic institutions, and economic events.
Each grew up in a household, the most important economic institution in a market economy. As consumers, students are familiar with fast- food outlets, cineplexes, car dealerships, online retailers, and scores of stores at the mall. Most students have supplied labor to the job market-more than half had jobs in high school. Students also interact with the government-they know about sales taxes, driver's licenses, speed limits, and public schools. And students have a growing familiarity with the rest of the world. Thus, students have abundant experience with economics. This rich lode of personal experience offers a perfect starting point. Rather than try to create for students a new world of economics, a new way of thinking, my approach is to build on student experience-on what Alfred Marshall called "the ordinary business of life."
ISBN:9780538453752
