Pirudas L. Lwamugira
The purpose of this book is to provide instructors and students a concise text that covers the core principles of microeconomics that can be taught in a semester. This is done without sacrificing the content or the rigorous examination of microeconomic theory. It deliberately avoids overwhelming students with information overload.
The book does not seek to make economics interesting, entertaining, or ‘simple’.
It simply encourages the mastery and application of the basic microeconomic principles, and the development of critical thinking. It emphasizes the mastery of the basic economic principles by repeating explanations and definitions of certain economic concepts like economic efficiency, a change in demand versus a change in quantity demanded and by placing an emphasis on problem solving. In some cases synonyms of certain words are provided. Do not, therefore, be surprised by the repetitive nature of the book because the motto is to ‘leave no student behind’.
The main distinguishing characteristic of this book is its structure. I have always subscribed to the philosophy of a certain great educator (I cannot remember his name) who said that ‘you can teach anything to anybody as long as it is well structured’. This has been the guiding principle in my teaching and in writing this book.
Homework problems are provided at the end of some chapters and again the idea is to encourage students to apply economic concepts, think critically, write about economic issues, and develop problem-solving skills. To that end, multiple-choice questions are avoided and there is no test-bank. It is left to the instructor to design tests that will give a proper feedback on the understanding and application of the course material covered.
Dr. Pirudas Lwamugira is Professor of economics at Fitchburg State College, Fitchburg Massachusetts. He teaches Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, Public Finance, Industrial Organization, International Finance, and Econometrics at the undergraduate level. He also teaches corporate finance at the graduate level.
Dr. Lwamugira received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of East Africa, University College Dar es Salaam; an MBA degree in Banking and Finance from St. Joseph University in Philadelphia, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Dr. Lwamugira has a varied experience in teaching economics to students of different backgrounds over thirty years. Before becoming tenured at Fitchburg State College, he had been a teacher at St. Thomas Moore’s College, Ihungo, in Tanzania; a lecturer at Uganda College of Commerce; and had served as an adjunct economics faculty at Temple University (Philadelphia), La Salle University (Philadelphia), and Rutgers University in Camden New Jersey.
PREFACE
The purpose of this book, like the Principles of Macroeconomics counterpart, is to provide instructors and students a concise text that covers the core principles of macroeconomics that can be taught in a semester. This is done without sacrificing the content or the rigorous examination of macroeconomic theory. It deliberately avoids overwhelming students with information overload. The book does not seek to make economics interesting, entertaining, or ‘simple’. It simply encourages the mastery and application of the basic macroeconomic principles, and the development of critical thinking. It emphasizes the mastery of the basic economic principles by repeating explanations and definitions of certain economic concepts like economic efficiency, a change in demand versus a change in quantity demanded and by placing an emphasis on problem solving. In some cases synonyms of certain words are provided. Do not, therefore, be surprised by the repetitive nature of the book because the motto is to ‘leave no student behind’. The content and structure of the book should benefit students who go on to do advanced work in economics as well as those who just take one economics course and stop at that.
The main distinguishing characteristic of this book is its structure. I have always subscribed to the philosophy of a certain great educator (I cannot remember his name) who said that ‘you can teach anything to anybody as long as it is well structured’. This has been the guiding principle in my teaching and in writing this book.
The instructor who emphasizes class discussions and encourages students to discover for themselves the meanings and applications of certain economic concepts will find this book particularly useful. Few application examples are given and everything is left to the instructor and the students to come up with their own examples. That way, the students are encouraged to pose and think about the issues rather than read the examples in the book and move on. In any case, macroeconomic and microeconomic issues change rapidly so everybody is better off discussing current economic issues.
As much as possible debate and personal opinions on various economic issues are avoided. Government price controls, for example, provide an opportunity for a lively classroom discussion, but in this text they are discussed in the context of applying the competitive market model and a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of these controls are left to the instructor.
Homework problems are provided at the end of some chapters and again the idea is to encourage students to apply economic concepts, think critically, write about economic issues, and develop problem-solving skills. To that end, multiple-choice questions are avoided and there is no test-bank. It is left to the instructor to design tests that will give a proper feedback on the understanding and application of the course material covered.
