Overview
- Offers a comprehensive overview of the status quo in microeconomic theory
- Introduces both mainstream and alternative classical-inspired economic approaches
- Discusses the reasons for the current discontent with neoclassical general equilibrium theory
- Presents a unique re-evaluation of welfare economics
Part of the book series: Classroom Companion: Economics (CCE)
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
- advanced microeconomics
- Cambridge debates in capital theory
- theories of value and distribution
- classical versus neclassical economics
- critical microeconomics
- microeconomics of labour markets
- surplus approach versus marginal approach
- evolution of general equilibrium theory
- evolutionary economics
- heterodox economics
- Post-Keynesian economics
- Marxian and Sraffian economics
- classical economics of Smith, Ricardo and Marx
- Labour theory of value
About this book
This textbook explains comprehensively and in rigorous detail not only mainstream microeconomics, but also why many economists are dissatisfied with major aspects of it, and the alternative that they are exploring in response: the Classical-Keynesian-Kaleckian approach. This advanced yet user-friendly book allows readers to grasp the standard theory of consumers, firms, imperfect competition, general equilibrium, uncertainty, games and asymmetric information. Furthermore, it examines the classical approaches to value and income distribution advocated by Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx, as well as Post-Keynesian pricing theory, and the microeconomics of variable capacity utilization. Using simple models, it highlights the analytical roots of the important differences between the marginal/neoclassical approach and the classical-Keynesian, critically examining the plausibility and reciprocal consistency of their assumptions.
The book also addresses various microeconomicissues not generally included in advanced microeconomics textbooks, including differential land rent, joint-production long-period pricing, capital theory from Walras to the Cambridge debates, the foundations of aggregate production functions, the microeconomics of labor markets, and the long-period theory of wages. Lastly, it presents a unique re-evaluation of welfare economics. Intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate microeconomics courses, this textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to the various approaches and different schools of thought currently competing in the context of economic theory. It can also be used in courses on value and distribution, heterodox economics, and the history of economic analysis. In the present situation, characterized by scientific uncertainty and the co-existence of competing approaches, it will stimulate students to form their own opinion as to which approach appears more promising from a scientific standpoint.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Fabio Petri is Professor of Economics at the University of Siena, Italy. He has published works on capital theory, Sraffian economics, Marxian economics, topics on which he is a recognized specialist and on which he has been called to contribute in the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, the Elgar Companion to Classical Economics, the Handbook of the History of Economic Analysis. Recently retired, he continues to teach microeconomic theory to Master’s and PhD students.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Microeconomics for the Critical Mind
Book Subtitle: Mainstream and Heterodox Analyses
Authors: Fabio Petri
Series Title: Classroom Companion: Economics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62070-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-62069-1Published: 25 May 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-62070-7Published: 24 May 2021
Series ISSN: 2662-2882
Series E-ISSN: 2662-2890
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 1395
Number of Illustrations: 239 b/w illustrations, 37 illustrations in colour
Topics: Microeconomics, History of Economic Thought/Methodology, Heterodox Economics