Applied
Microeconomics: Consumption, Production and Markets
David L.
Debertin
This is a
microeconomic theory book designed for upper-division undergraduate students in
economics and agricultural economics. A
free pdf download of the entire book at download at
Amazon markets bound print copies of the book at amazon.com at a nominal price (about $25) for classroom
use.
The book can also be ordered through college
bookstores using the following ISBN numbers:
ISBN‐13: 978‐1475244342
ISBN-10: 1475244347
Basic introductory
college courses in microeconomics and differential calculus are the assumed
prerequisites. The last, tenth, chapter of the book reviews some mathematical
principles basic to the other chapters. All of the chapters contain many
numerical examples and graphs developed from the numerical examples. The
ambitious student could recreate any of the charts and tables contained in the
book using a computer and Excel spreadsheets. There are many numerical examples
of the key elements of marginal analysis. In addition, many practical examples
are taken from the real world to illustrate key points.
Most of the examples
used in the book come from the food and agricultural industries, broadly
defined. Examples in consumer choice and utility focus on consumer decisions to
purchase hamburgers and French fries. Production examples involve choices
farmers make in order to apply fertilizer to crops. Market models are employed
that illustrate consumer choice between beef, pork and chicken at the grocery
meat counter, and so on. A few of the examples do not employ agriculturally
related goods, such as the examples dealing with the fate of the Polaroid
corporation and its instant cameras, monopoly power of cable television
providers and competition between the big three auto makers in the 1950s.
Each chapter begins
with material that will be familiar to nearly any student who has passed an
introductory microeconomics course. However, as each chapter progresses, the
problems and the math required to complete them get
tougher. Critical points throughout the text are highlighted in text boxes. The
instructor need not use all of the sections of each chapter for a course as
each section of each chapter is self-contained.
Each chapter concludes
with a basic summary of key points and a comprehensive list of terms and
definitions. Students might choose to begin by reading the key summary points
and definitions at the end of each chapter. Each chapter also contains a
spreadsheet exercise for students to create examples similar to the tables and
charts in the text.
The book is designed
for use in a one-semester course, covering the parts of microeconomics that
nearly every instructor believes should be covered at the intermediate level,
but also recognizing that most instructors will want to devote a few weeks of
the semester to material specific to their own interests.
You could print the book
directly from the free e-download, but Amazon does such a nice job of binding
and printing the book in an easy-to-put-in-a-backpack format, if I were an
instructor I would simply order the bound copies. I have experimented with
simply downloading this as a pdf e-book. The problem
that I get into is that would like to be able to flip pages around to compare
graphs directly with table numbers, and also look at math steps that occurred a
few pages ago, and I really believe that the print copy is still extremely
important here in the learning process.
Everything in the book is tied
back to what was contained in chapters 3-9 of the introductory slides, but
everything also becomes more quantitative with the combination of calculus and
spreadsheets applied. The transition should be very smooth from introductory to
intermediate level.
Links for Free Downloads of Spreadsheets and Computer Exercises
Chapter 1 Introduction
(None)
Chapter 2 Demand and Supply
Constructing linear demand and
supply functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter2linear.xlsx
Constructing nonlinear demand and
supply functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter2nonlinear.xlsx
Exercise: Linear demand function
with a shifter
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchap2a.xlsx
Chapter 3 Elasticities
Elasticities, linear and nonlinear
functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter3elasticities.xlsx
Exercise: calculating elasticities
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter3.xlsx
Chapter 4 Consumer Choice
Constructing budget lines
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter4budget.xlsx
Constructing indifference curves
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter4indifference.xlsx
Lagrangean optimization
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter4lagrange.xlsx
Exercise: basic utility functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter4a.xlsx
Exercise: 3D indifference curves
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter4b.xlsx
Chapter 5 Production with One Variable Input
Basic Prodction,
MPP and APP curves
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter5prod1.xlsx
Revenue, cost and
profit
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter5prod3.xls
Exercise: basic revenue,
cost and profit
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter5a.xlsx
Exercise: graphics for basic revenue, cost and profit
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter5b.xlsx
Chapter 6 Costs of Production from the Output Side
Cost functions from polynomial
production functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter6cost.xlsx
Exercise: polynomial cost functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter6.xlsx
Exercise: More cost from
production
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter6b.xlsx
Chapter 7 Production with two Variable Inputs
Drawing 3D Production surfaces
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter7twoinput.xlsx
Budget lines
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter7twoinput3.xlsx
Chapter 8 Production with Two Outputs
A product transformation curve
from two production functions
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter8twooutput.xlsx
A two-output 3D production surface
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter8twooutput2.xlsx
Exercise: Building product transformation
curves
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/exerchapter8.xlsx
Chapter 9 Market Models of Competition
Pure competition
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter9comp.xlsx
Monopoly
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter9monop.xlsx
Monopolistic competition
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/am/chapter9monopcomp.xlsx
Other Books:
Economics of Food and Agriculture
(Third edition, 2014)
David L. Debertin
This is a
heavily-edited version of an introductory agricultural economics text book
“Economics of Food and Agriculture” that was originally published by Kendall
Hunt, in 1990 but has long been out of print.
The current version consists of 620 color pdf
slide set constituting material for a complete introductory (100-level course)
in agricultural economics. All the color
slides are contained in an 11 MB pdf file (similar in
size to a tablet or iPad application).
The file is
ideally suited for downloading by tech-savvy beginning undergraduate agricultural
economics student to a variety of devices. I have been experimenting with
7-inch Android tablets, but the file should work equally well on an iPad or perhaps even a smart phone. Obviously the file can also be downloaded to
a laptop or desktop computer or any other device that has a pdf
reader on it. By downloading the file students suddenly have a complete
620-slide beginning agricultural economics course on whatever device they
prefer to use.
The material can also be use by instructors for classroom
presentations employing a computer projector. I envision a modern agricultural
economics classroom of students with devices of various types in the class
having already downloaded same material on the device as what appears
on-screen. The slides contain much of the detailed core material, but there is
still plenty of space for instructors to do their own things in conjunction
with the slides.
There are two files,
one containing 620 color pdf slides in 17 chapters. A
second file handout file contains the same slides set up for printing on a
black-and-white printer, two-to-a-page.
Both of the files are
free downloads at http://ageconsearch.umn.edu
The “handle” to get
directly to the files is http://purl.umn.edu/162696 All of this is FREE, and EVERY beginning student in
agricultural economics no matter where they are should download the files to
the device of their choice!
Background on the revision and updates
to the material:
The 1990 versions of this book relied heavily
on graphs that constructed by the author using secondary data. Now there are
many other sources, most notably the graphs contained in the USDA ERS chart gallery.
In updating this version to the present, I retained a few of the graphs that
were in the original version, but then located graphs created by the USDA ERS
in their chart gallery in order to add to and supplement the original
information. These slides were originally constructed employing Harvard
Graphics routines. At that point in computing history, clip art as opposed to
photographs was being used extensively.
By retaining some of the quirky clip art from the original version, I
have also retained some of the look and feel of the original edition. It turns
out that these slides, with big fonts and quirky clip-art, look particularly
neat on a small hand-held device.
Color is important on
these slides, which were originally used for GEN 101 taught using these slides
by me and several others in the UK ag.
econ Department. Students will want to download the
color file to their laptops or tablet devices. For the most part, the
black-and-white handout looks fine when printed, but for a few of the graphs,
the color causes lines or other information to be washed out or a graph or map
becomes hard to read. Students should refer back to the color version on their
computing devices.
Links for Powerpoint
slides for individual chapters for instructors
All of the 600+
slides contained in the book are available to instructors as free downloads.
The general Web address for downloading these is http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch”X”.ppt
where “X” is the specific one- or two-digit chapter number. Hence, the Powerpoint for chapter 10 can be downloaded at the Web
Address http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch10.ppt
Hot Links for all the
chapters as individual Powerpoints are below
Chapter 1:
Introduction http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch1.ppt
Chapter 2: The
Structure of Agriculture http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch2.ppt
Chapter 3: Demand and
Supply http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch3.ppt
Chapter 4:
Introduction to Elasticities http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch4.ppt
Chapter 5: Utility Analysis http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch5.ppt
Chapter 6:
Agricultural Production Economics http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch6.ppt
Chapter 7: Producer Cost http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch7.ppt
Chapter 8: Production
with Two Inputs or Outputs
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch8.ppt
Chapter 9:
Alternative models of Competition http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch9.ppt
Chapter 10:
Agricultural Marketing
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch10.ppt
Chapter 11: Credit in
Agriculture http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch11.ppt
Chapter 12: Public
Policy http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch12.ppt
Chapter 13: Economics
of Resources http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch13.ppt
Chapter 14: Trade in
Agricultural Goods http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch14.ppt
Chapter 15: Economic
Systems in Other Countries
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch15.ppt
Chapter 16: World
Food http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch16.ppt
Chapter 17: Rural
Economic Development http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/efa/ch17.ppt
These Powerpoint figures are backward compatible and should work on
early Windows based machines at least as far back as those running Office 97.
Agricultural
Production Economics (Second Edition, 2012)
David L.
Debertin
Agricultural Production Economics (Second Edition, Amazon Createspace 2012) is a revised edition of the Textbook Agricultural Production Economics
published by Macmillan in 1986 (ISBN 0-02-328060-3). This is intended primarily
for adoption at the beginning graduate level although a few institutions are
using this also at the upper-division undergraduate level.
The beauty of the linkage at the three levels is that
Agricultural Production Economics uses a lot of the same or closely-related
numerical examples that students who have used Applied Economics will have
already seen at the upper-division undergraduate level. There is a real advantage to having the same
author writing the materials at all different levels. Agricultural
Production Economics is available as a FREE
e-download at http://purl.umn.edu/158319
Amazon also has bound
print copies of the book at amazon.com at a nominal
price (about $19) for classroom use. Again, students can download the file but
I recommend the paper copy for serious study.
The 428 pp. book can also be ordered through college
bookstores using the following ISBN numbers:
ISBN-13
978-1469960647
ISBN-10
1469960648
A companion
100-page color book Agricultural Production Economics (The Art of Production
Theory) is also a free pdf download at http://purl.umn.edu/158320
For
instructors who want a color Powerpoint version of
all of these figures from Agricultural Production Economics for display in the
classroom, this link provides a free electronic download to all of them in ppt format
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/colorbookppt.ppt
A bound 100-pp. print copy is also
available on amazon.com at a nominal cost (about $25,
probably cheaper than buying color toner to print the file). Here is the Amazon
link:
The companion book can also be ordered through
bookstores under the following ISBN numbers:
ISBN- 13:
978-1470129262
ISBN- 10: 1470129264
Papers, spreadsheets and other files connected to Agricultural Production Economics Second
Edition:
The article
that started it all:
“Developing
Realistic Production Functions for Use in Undergraduate Classes.” S. Journ. Agr. Econ
17:2, 1985, 207-214.
free download at http://purl.umn.edu/29983
This article was written prior to the 1986 edition of the book. The SAS
code in this article still works with only minor changes. If you want to do the
same thing using a spreadsheet, download
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/SJAE.xlsx
Matrix multiplication and
inversion in spreadsheets (used in 1985 article)
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/mat.xlsx
Simple MPP and APP using basic
model from 1985 article
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/mppapp.xlsx
Basic single input production
spreadsheet
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/single.xlsx
Complete single input production
spreadsheet
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/main.xlsx
Deriving AC and MC curves
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/acmccurves.xlsx
Single-input profit from the input
and output side
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/profitinputoutput.xls
Production and cost simple power
production function
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/prodcostpower.xlsx
Basic Production and Cost
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/prodcost.xlsx
Figure 5.1 from text
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/fig51.xlsx
General program for doing
unconstrained max, min and saddles
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/unconstrainedg.xlsx
Minimum
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/min.xlsx
Maximum
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/max.xlsx
Saddle without cross term
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/saddle.xlsx
Saddle point with cross term
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/saddle1.xlsx
Bradfordian
polynomial
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/poly.xlsx
Polynomial production function from
“journ”
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/journ3d.xlsx
Polynomial production function
from “journ” version 2
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/journ3D2.xlsx
Basic 3D profit
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/basic3Dprofit.xlsx
Pseudo scale line drawing in XLSX
file (ignore circular reference)
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/pslinesa.xlsx
Cobb Douglas with pseudo scale
lines
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/cdpseudo.xlsx
Small LP from book solved on
spreadsheet
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/lpsimple.xlsx
Harvard Graphics (now Powerpoint) software featured in “An Animated Instructional
Model for Teaching Production Economics with computer Graphics. Am. Jour. Agr. Econ. 1993, May, 1993. 485-491
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/journ.ppt
A basic 3D
graphics program in SAS. Copy and paste each program into PC SAS
editor, then run
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/graph10.txt
1985 SJAE article SAS code edited
http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/ap/SJAESAS.txt