Microeconomic Theory -- Basic Principles and Extensions, Second (2d) Edition

by Walter Nicholson

Nicholson's Microeconomic Basic Principles and Extensions, 9th edition is a tried-and-true, well-known and respected market-leading text. Applauded for providing the most clear and accurate presentation of advanced microeconomic concepts, it offers an ideal level of mathematical rigor for upper level undergraduate students and beginning graduate students. It gives students the opportunity to work directly with theoretical tools, real-world applications, and cutting edge developments in the study of microeconomics. This book is solid, rigorous, comprehensive, and is sensibly challenging for students, best serving students with a mathematics background.

Genres: Economics, Textbooks, Academic, Business, Nonfiction

694 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating material, but I'm glad I have a professor who explains it with such clarity. Dense stuff.

[Ince · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my obligatory book.

[Dustin Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walter Nicholson and Christopher Snyder's 12th edition of Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions is a worthy intermediate text on microeconomics. Though published in 2016, the halcyon days before Trump was elected and the coronavirus pandemic, it already feels a bit dated. The authors clearly haven't internalized the implications of the bank bailouts during the Great Recession, in which the actors responsible for the crisis were let off the hook, and in fact profited from it, while the bill was left to the American public, which engendered populist resentment against economic elites and their puppets in Washington, creating the conditions for someone like Donald Trump to be elected president. The authors tend to treat the crash as something of a curiosity. The current expansive fiscal policy (though better treated in a macroeconomics text) is forcing a rethink about economics in which many practitioners necessarily admit perhaps the magic money tree is an accurate notion after all.

I got through college reading older editions of the texts my professors assigned. Rather than paying hundreds of dollars for each course's textbooks, I paid next to nothing for the previous editions. The textbook industry is a scam built on the principle of planned obsolescence, churning out new editions every couple years, with price tags often over $100 per book, turning the buy-back price of the older edition into a few cents. I always figured what insights could an author have had in the 18 months between the 13th and 14th editions that could have possibly rendered a new edition necessary? Usually the only difference is a few updated figures (which don't change the underlying thesis), swapping out some pictures, or switching two chapters around, with a new introduction no one will read (or, more insidiously, changing nothing except the questions at the end of the chapter so you can't do your homework without buying the newest book). If the newest edition were to start with something along the lines of "Everything I thought knew about microeconomics has recently turned out to be wrong," the authors would have written an entirely new book. However, all these recent events make a book that is barely four years old feel outdated, and in this case, I think they should come out with a new edition addressing recent rethinks.

The book does offer lucid explanations of microeconomic topics, as well as a flyby of emerging theories in the field, such as behavioral economics.

Where I think it is weakest is in the math. Math doesn't come naturally to me, and I had a hard time following the mathematical models. Like many economists (and other smart people), the authors take shortcuts in the math, doing some steps "in their heads," which makes the mathematically stupid feel confused as they fail to follow along. I would have preferred the authors to explain how each part of the equation functions, why it was included in the model, so that the models could perhaps feel intuitive, as they're supposed to. I often felt frustrated with the equations and mathy sections of the book. Otherwise, I do feel like I gained a lot of understanding from this book, and would recommend it over other intermediate microeconomic texts.

[Emtiaz Hossain Hritan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a perfect graduate introductory textbook for students without calculus coming with only principles and intermediate economics courses. For advanced students, Microeconomic Theory
by Andreu Mas-Colell , Michael D. Whinston , Jerry R. Green will be better.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super mega dry. But it helped me pass this class so. Cool.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got it at a used booksale for $1- best purchase ever!!! I used it side by side with reg Econ (AP level) to see the math and it was great

[Ndawa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerfull insights in this book

[Joseph Bronski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good exposition of microeconomics from a math-first perspective. Much better than "no math" or "little math" attempts to teach what are fundamentally just a bunch of mathematical models based on a function-maximizing assumption about human behavior.

[die Marie van O · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Pyndick I finally realized what my professor meant... Nicholson's indeed way too mathematical, the theory's a bit left behind so that you no longer know what's most important, if the economics mathematics explanations or the microeconomical theory.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Results are in. I didn't learn enough.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes! I am done with Microeconomics--turned in the final at 5pm today!!!

[Yaowapa]

i will make ploblem in this book

[Zaidi]

THAT IS EXELLENT BOOK

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used by Prof. Artur Raviv as textbook for first-year MBA course in Microeconomics at Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Fall 1980.

[Bill Zhou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intermediate level Microeconomic theory textbook

[Faysal]

just i want to read this book.

[Jawid]

its good

[Rajazeeshan]

i want to read this book

[Muhammad Farooq]

i think this book is informative regarding my study that's why i want to read it.

[Hanhyoonsic · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is very interesting