Issues in Economics Today - Robert Guell

About the book

Issues in Economics Today is a modern issues book built to meet instructor and student needs simultaneously. This title was developed to allow instructors the maximum flexibility to teach this material in a manner that fits their personal style.

This edition includes 8 intensive core theory chapters and 35 shorter issues chapters. The book is designed to allow faculty the flexibility in approach, whether they prefer weave together theory and issues or lay a foundation of theory first before heading into the issues. With flexibility in mind, instructors can set a theme for their course and pick issues consistent with that theme or their students decide what issues interest them.

Key features

COURSE: This book is designed for a one-semester, issues-based general education economics course; a course for non-majors that teaches both micro and macro topics. It shows the nonbusiness, noneconomics major what the discipline of economics can do. Students of the ¿issues approach¿ will master the basic economic theory necessary to explore a variety of real-world issues. If this is the only economics class the student will take, they will gain enough insight to be able to intelligently discuss the way economic theory applies to important issues in the world today. This is a difficult course area to target, in some regards, because there is a lot of ebb and flow between "survey" and "issues.¿ Often, it depends on which faculty member is teaching the course that semester. Some instructors assigning the course opt for an Issues approach while others prefer the straight survey approach.

New chapters: The sixth edition introduces three new chapters that examine the Japanese experience following a real estate bubble in the 1990s, the fiscal problems posed by unfunded pension liabilities, and health care reform.

New Chapter 15, Japan’s Lost Decade: Could It Happen in the United States?, looks at the causes, policy responses, and outcomes of the 1990s Japanese experience with real estate bubbles and looks at whether the policy actions of the Federal Reserve and Congress following the American experience learned from the failure of the Japanese to recover.
New Chapter 16, Is the (Fiscal) Sky Falling?: An Examination of Unfunded Social Security, Medicare, and State and Local Pension Liabilities, focuses on the fiscal time-bomb that could be ticking in Medicare, state and local pensions, and ultimately Social Security.
New Chapter 26, Health Care Reform: Was it the Right Reform?, breaks apart the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its impacts on the health insurance industry, various government programs, employers, and individuals and finishes with a laundry list of taxes that pay for the coverage of the unemployed and the various other regulatory actions taken.

New web chapters: Formerly part of the printed text, these issues chapters will now appear on the text website for even more flexibility and variety in coverage. These chapters cover the International Monetary Fund, the cost of war and occupation and the economics of terrorism.

Short answer questions: This new question format has been added to the end of chapter material to provide instructors with another avenue for homework or in-class activity.

Updated data and information: Data graphs and tables were updated to include the latest available information.

Conversational writing style: Students not majoring in economics appreciate and connect with the text¿s writing style. Students feel at ease with the material, allowing them to feel more confident and open to learning

Chapter outline and chapter objectives: Setting the stage at the beginning of each chapter, these features show students how the chapter is organized and what to anticipate in each chapter.

Strong pedagogy: Issues in Economics Today includes a wide array of in-text learning resources specifically designed to address the needs of the introductory student.

Kick It Up a Notch: Encourages students to challenge themselves with slightly more advanced concepts. For those who want extra practice, this section contains additional material that can be found in the Study Guide.
Quiz Yourself: These questions are perfect for self-quizzing at the end of each chapter. Students can refresh their memory and test what they learned in the chapter.
Think About This: This resource asks provocative questions that encourage students to think about how economic theories apply to the real world by putting themselves in the economic driver’s seat. This feature facilitates active learning so that the students will learn the concepts more thoroughly.
Talk About This: Instructors can use this feature to trigger discussion in the classroom about a particular topic in the chapter that they are covering.
For More Insight See: This feature sends the students to Web sites and publications to find additional material on a given topic. Since economic issues are particularly time-sensitive, this feature not only helps students learn to do research on the Web, but also keeps the course as fresh and current as today’s newspapers.
Behind the Numbers: This resource displays source lines and titles for the important data tables and figures used in each chapter.