EBOOK Microeconomics:Optimization, Experiments, and Behavior

In this book, John P. Burkett presents microeconomics as an evolving science,        interacting with mathematics, psychology, and other disciplines and offering        solutions to a growing range of practical problems. The book shows how early        contributors such as Xenophon, Ibn Khaldun, and David Hume posed the normative and        positive questions central to microeconomics. It expounds constrained optimization        techniques, as developed by economists and mathematicians from Daniel Bernoulli to        Leonid Kantorovich, emphasizing their value in deriving norms of rational behavior        and testable hypotheses about typical behavior. Applying these techniques, the book        introduces partial equilibrium analysis of particular markets and general        equilibrium analysis of market economies. The book both explains how laboratory and        field experiments are used in testing economic hypotheses and provides materials for        classroom experiments. It gives extensive and innovative coverage of recent findings        in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, which not only document behavior        inconsistent with some traditional theories, but also advance positive theories with        superior predictive power.