Mankiw 9th Edn Introduction to Commentaries
Introduction to the Commentaries on Mankiw’s Principles of Microeconomics, ninth edition, 2021, Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
The purpose of these Commentaries on Mankiw’s text (some of which also appear in the introductory chapters of his Principles of Macroeconomics) is to assist students to think critically about what they are reading. This isn’t easy to do on one’s own. Students first must master the ideas being presented, ideas moreover which appear to have the stamp of approval of the instructor as well as the economics profession. But, particularly at large universities, the instructor may have had no choice about what text to use. And the economics profession is far from monolithic, as the existence of the World Economics Association demonstrates. As well, a variety of ‘nonstandard’ principles texts exist, and their share of the market may well be slowly growing.
Much of the content in these Commentaries apply not just to Mankiw’s text but also to most of the ‘standard’ or ‘mainstream’ texts in use today, not only in the United States but in many other countries. Many of these texts, including Mankiw’s, have editions published in other English-speaking countries and versions translated into other languages.
Most of the points raised in the Commentaries have been set out, often in more detail, in other critiques of the way that microeconomics principles are presented to students. (See the Additional Reading section below.)
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to Stuart Birks, formerly of Massey University, New Zealand, for inviting me to consider doing these commentaries, and particularly for his feedback on the initial drafts. Needless to say, I remain responsible for the remaining errors. Comments will be appreciated and will contribute to future revisions.
Rod Hill
University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
email: rhill@unb.ca
No commentaries at present