Home :: Books :: Professional & Technical  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical

Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, Sixth Edition

Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, Sixth Edition

List Price: $133.50
Your Price: $113.76
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Clearly written intro to neo-classical economic belief
Review: A very well-written introduction to the theory of neo-classical economic belief. States the (nonempirical) postulates explicitly (excepting the postulate of stability), illustrates how this leads to the prediction that regulations reduce efficiency, discusses game theory, law and econ, IT, and assymetric information. See my review of Microeconomics by the same author. Note also that, as in Microeconomics, there is no discussion of real empirical data. With only three exceptions there are no graphs obtained from real market data in Intermediate Microeconomics. Also, no mention of Radner's proof that equilibria make demands of information acquisition and processing on agents that cannot be met even by a Turing machine. Also, no discussion of the fact that (a) financial market data indicate stochastic dynamic models that have no equilibria either dynamically or statistically, and (b) when equilibria do occur in stochastic models of financial markets, then they are unstable (financial markets are not discussed in the text aside from the CAPM: there is no demand for liquidity in neo-classical economic theory, money is unnecessary, as is the Fed). The student should keep in mind that this is an already-falsified theory (a belief system) that does not describe how any market works in reality. In order to understand where and why this text goes wrong, read mirowski's Machine Dreams'.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Makes easy the understanding of hard microeconomics concepts
Review: Easy to read and to understand, this book allows the student in microeconomics learn some complex tricks of economic theory in an easy way. This is the reason why it is adopted in the top 5 brazilian universities as the student's main book on the subject.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A casual reader
Review: Good advanced udergraduate. If you have a problem grasping concepts from this text, you need to think about another line of study.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best text available for intermediate micro!
Review: Hal Varian's approach to economics is straightforward, and yet is written in a conversational tone unparalleled by most technical textbooks. Graceful. My professor used the book to complement a very mathematically rigorous course using multivariable calculus. I didn't like the fact that Varian failed to use the calculus in the main body of the text, instead moving it to the appendix. Varian's straightforward style made it a very pleasurable reading experience and a very captivating introduction to the discipline of microeconomics.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Missing Fundamental Explanations
Review: I am completing my final semester in the Economics Department at the University of Rochester. Looking back over all of the books that I have read as an undergraduate student, this book ranks among the worst three (including books from other disciplines). Coming from a student who will be graduating among the top in his class and continuing on to pursue a PhD in Economics, steer clear of any Microeconomics section requiring this textbook, unless you have an excellent teacher, who you know, will fill in the gaps.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Expect to need some back-up ...
Review: I am using this book at the moment for an undergraduate intermediate microeconomics course ...

The text is quite verbose, and it really requires reading twice in some parts to pick out what you really need! I suggest having some mathematic text books with lots of economic examples, as a back-up ... this is because I feel the examples in the book are hard to use, in the sense that you are learning something new and the examples are not straight-forward, so make the concepts hard to pick up in some parts of the book.

However, microeconomics is a huge subject and I wouldn't expect any one book to cover everything .... so expect to do some further reading to "catch" all concepts and get a good understanding of all the topics.

Overall, the book covers what you need to know ...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Okay
Review: I think this book is okay but as many reviewers have said the math is a little lacking. While math is important to economics, it isn't necessarily for the math's sake that that is so. Incorporating both the math and specific examples utilizing math really clarifies the theory. I found myself confused about what microeconomic theory meant when there wasn't a lot of numerical examples to back it up. There are far better text books to get a really thorough grasp of microeconomic theory, but if you already have that fundamental grasp I think this one might refresh your memory. But I would recommend others if you are looking to learn the theory for the first time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Okay
Review: I think this book is okay but as many reviewers have said the math is a little lacking. While math is important to economics, it isn't necessarily for the math's sake that that is so. Incorporating both the math and specific examples utilizing math really clarifies the theory. I found myself confused about what microeconomic theory meant when there wasn't a lot of numerical examples to back it up. There are far better text books to get a really thorough grasp of microeconomic theory, but if you already have that fundamental grasp I think this one might refresh your memory. But I would recommend others if you are looking to learn the theory for the first time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good in Theory
Review: I used this book for intermediate Economics course at UT Austin. I found it a great supplement to class lectures, etc. Though it lacks Math examples, there is an associated study guide for this book. For all the Math demanders, I suggest they buy the paperback edition of studyguide for this book.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Verbose
Review: I used this book for the Cornell Econ 301 course, a calculus based intro to microeconomics. The professor taught everything in lecture so that the book was used only as a supplement. I read part of the book and found that it is too verbose and repetitive. The author could have explained everything in less than half of the book. The exercises are not helpful. Moreover, this little book is sold for more than a 100 dollars. Not worth the money at all.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates