Broad. Useful. Intuitive.
“The Stevenson/Wolfers textbook is as revolutionary as Greg Mankiw’s first edition and definitely surpasses Mankiw’s current edition. It will convince the students that [economics] is fun and easy to learn.”
Debashis Pal, University of Cincinnati
“If I only had one shot at a student, the material in these first few chapters is what I would want them to walk away with.”
Wayne Hickenbottom, University of Texas at Austin
“This text presents more graphs from real economic data than I think I have ever seen! I love how the graphs are presented with great down-to-earth, easy explanations.”
Heather Schumacker, Salt Lake Community College
“On using this three‐equation model (IS‐MP‐PC) with principles students, I can certainly see doing this after reading the supplied chapters. It does not seem too complex. There is about as much material in this model as in the AD‐AS model, but it is laid out more logically with key pieces organized in a more visible manner.”
William Goffe, Penn State University
“It is truly ‘modern’ economics. The book is putting the student in the driver seat and making them solve macro problems.… The real world is brought to the students, and it is not that complicated.”
Seemi Ahmad, Dutchess Community College
“Most of the students are concerned about seeing mathematics and graphs so the clear verbal approach is inclusive to all students. Since I started using Stevenson/Wolfers more students are asking me what courses I teach at higher levels and more students are considering minoring in Economics!”
Gennady Lyakir, Fashion Institute of Technology
“[T]he material is presented in an intuitive, relevant way that is maybe deceptively rigorous. And I’m still blown away by the business cycle chapter.”
Susan Laury, Georgia State University
“[During my class test] my students pretty much universally seemed happy, both in class and in their surveys. Fewer students dropped the course, especially early on. They even got better grades on the final. There was a noticeable difference.”
Steve Davis, Southwest Minnesota State University
Broadly Applicable
How will you allocate your limited attention? See Chapter 1.
We’re part of a generation that has come to understand economics as a set of tools, rather than a specific set of interactions in traditional markets. In our research, we’ve analyzed marriage and divorce, unemployment, inequality, elections, women’s changing role in the labor market, and the relationship between economic growth and happiness. This broad approach enables us to show students that the economic tools they’re learning can be used to study families, education, health, and personal finance as well as business strategy, political economy, international finance, business cycles, and macroeconomic policy. This greater relevance means that studying economics has a bigger payoff for more students across a wider range of interests and career ambitions, including those who have traditionally been deterred from the field. The result is a more diverse set of students, higher enrollments, and greater momentum in the major.
Extraordinarily Useful
Should you make it yourself, or specialize and trade? See Chapter 9.
In our experience, students identify with economics when economics identifies with them. And so on every page we show how it applies to the real-world decisions they’ll face in their lives. The theory of supply comes to life when students see themselves not just as potential suppliers but also as suppliers of their labor, their savings, and even their attention. The theory of comparative advantage that animates international trade is more broadly a theory of task allocation that students can use now to inform their choice of major, and later as managers assigning responsibilities among their staff. Likewise, the net present value framework we use to teach future CEOs how to make investment decisions applies equally to our students’ decisions to invest in their education, their health, and their careers. The value of the economic toolkit becomes immediately obvious when students can start using it straight away—and when they can see themselves applying it through the rest of their lives.
Refreshingly Intuitive
Is college a worthwhile investment? See Chapter 26.
This broader and more useful scope requires us to shift perspectives, from thinking about our students as spectators who watch the economic action unfold, to preparing them for the important roles they’ll play as economic actors. That means emphasizing economic intuition so that they learn to see the world through an economics lens. We do this by doing more, with less. Rather than overstuff each lesson with technical detail, we focus on the foundational ideas. For faculty, this means teaching the same economic ideas that you use every day. For students, it means working through these ideas again and again, to build familiarity and competence. In time, the muscle that connects theory with reality grows stronger, and something magical happens as students start to recognize economic forces all around them. This transforms the relationship that our students have with economics: They report that it changes from just another subject of classroom study to a whole new way of thinking that they find themselves using every day.