Structure of Economics
a Mathematical Analysis
In this book we explore the
insights that elementary mathematics affords the study of positive economics. We do not
explore these issues to their fullest generality or mathematical rigor. Although
generality and rigor are important economic goods, their production, because of the
above-mentioned law of diminishing returns, entails increasing marginal costs. Thus we are
usually content with intuitive, heuristic proofs of many mathematical propositions. We
refer students to standard mathematics texts for rigorous discussions of various theorems
we use in this book. We aimed for that unobservable margin where for the bulk of our
readers, the marginal benefits of greater rigor and generality equal their respective
marginal costs. By example after example we hope to convince the reader that these
elementary tools yield interesting and sometimes profound insights into modem economics.
A note to students and
instructors: Long experience teaching this material, and the authors' own experiences in
learning it, have made it abundantly clear that mastering this material is impossible
without doing the problems. So do the problems! The only true indicator of understanding
is that you can explain the solution to someone else. An Instructor's Manual is available
from McGraw-Hill.
668 pages