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Open Educational Resources

A guide to textbooks, course materials and multimedia which are free or or low cost for educational use. These resources were created with the intention of being widely used and are legal to use in courses with proper citation.

Open Economics Textbooks

 

Principles of Economics  -OpenStax

Principles of Economics covers the scope and sequence for a two-semester principles of economics course.  The text also includes many current examples, including; discussions on the great recession, the controversy among economists over the Affordable Care Act, the recent government shutdown, and the appointment of the United States' first female Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen. 

The pedagogical choices, chapter arrangements, and learning objective fulfillment were developed and vetted with feedback from educators dedicated to the project. The outcome is a balanced approach to micro and macro economics, to both Keynesian and classical views, and the theory and application of economics concepts. Current events are treated in a politically-balanced way, as well. -OpenStax

Authors:

Eric Dodge, Hanover College

Cynthia Gamex, University of Texas at El Paso

Andres Jauregui, Columbus State University

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported  License.

 

Principles of Macroeconomics -OpenStax

Principles of Macroeconomics covers the scope and sequence for a one-semester economics course. The text also includes many current examples, including: the housing bubble and housing crisis, Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation, global unemployment, and the appointment of the United States’ first female Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen.

The pedagogical choices, chapter arrangements, and learning objective fulfillment were developed and vetted with feedback from educators dedicated to the project. The outcome is a balanced approach to economics, to both Keynesian and classical views, and to the theory and application of economics concepts. Current events are treated in a politically-balanced way, as well. -OpenStax

Authors

Timothy Taylor, Macalester College

Steven A. Greenlaw, University of Mary Washington

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported  License.

 

Principles of Microeconomics -OpenStax

Principles of Microeconomics covers the scope and sequence for a one-semester economics course. The text also includes many current examples, including; the Keystone Pipeline, Occupy Wall Street, and debates over the minimum wage.

The pedagogical choices, chapter arrangements, and learning objective fulfillment were developed and vetted with feedback from educators dedicated to the project. The outcome is a balanced approach to economics and to the theory and application of economics concepts. Current events are treated in a politically-balanced way, as well.  -OpenStax

Authors

Timothy Taylor, Macalester College

Steven A. Greenlaw, University of Mary Washington

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported  License.

 

Microeconomics: Theory Through Applications  -Open Textbook Library

The text covers all the areas and ideas of Macroeconomics that one would expect to find at the introductory level. The subjects are clear, easy to follow, relevant with applied examples. Global examples are used through the lens of US laws and economics.

Authors:

Russell Cooper, European University Institute, Economics

Andrew John, Melbourne Business School, Economics

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. 

 

Principles of Microeconomics

This textbook is used in the MIT Principles of Microeconomics course (listed below). Chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems.

Authors:

Libby Rittenberg, Colorado College, Economics

Dr. Timothy Tregarthen

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

Principles of Economics -Open Textbook Library

The integrating theme for macroeconomics is the model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Following its presentation in an early macroeconomics chapter, this model allows us to look at both short-run and long-run concepts and to address a variety of policy issues and debates. Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused.

Authors:

Libby Rittenberg, Colorado College, Economics

Dr. Timothy Tregarthen

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

Introduction to Economic Analysis  -Preston McAfee

This book presents introductory economics ("principles") material using standard mathematical tools, including calculus. It is designed for a relatively sophisticated undergraduate who has not taken a basic university course in economics. It also contains the standard intermediate microeconomics material and some material that ought to be standard but is not. The book can easily serve as an intermediate microeconomics text. The focus of this book is on the conceptual tools and not on fluff. Most microeconomics texts are mostly fluff and the fluff market is exceedingly over-served by $100+ texts. In contrast, this book reflects the approach actually adopted by the majority of economists for understanding economic activity. There are lots of models and equations and no pictures of economists.   -John McAfee

Authors:

Preston McAfee, Caltech, Economics 

Trecy Lewis, Duke University, Economics

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. 

 

Microeconomics -John Petroff

This is a web-based text. It has a complete table of contents and each section contains reading material, practice questions, assignments, an appendix, and a quiz. Topics covered in this text include, demand and supply, elasticity, competition, momopoly and oligopoly, income redistribution, and in ternational trade. 

Author:

John Petroff, Ph.D.

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

Quantum Microeconomics  -Yoram Bauman

The basic text, Quantum Microeconomics, is intended for use in introductory classes. A calculus-based version (unimaginatively titled Quantum Microeconomics with Calculus) is available for intermediate courses or math-intensive introductory courses, but it is much less polished.

Authors:

Yoram Bauman Ph. D. Economic, University of Washington

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.