Microeconomic Theory

Author: Mas-Colell
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book is one of the most influential advanced microeconomics textbooks in the field of economics in the West in recent ten years. Since the original work (Microeconomic Theory) was published by Oxford University Press, it has received widespread attention and praise from the economics community. The book systematically and comprehensively introduces all aspects of advanced microeconomic theory, covering a rich variety of topics and a large amount of information, making it recognized as the "bible" of microeconomic theory. It is adopted by almost all top universities abroad and is a must-read for graduate students in economics. The book has a clear logical structure, rigorous writing style, and sophisticated analytical methods, presenting all important topics in microeconomics with unprecedented depth and breadth. It not only thoroughly discusses classic theories but also provides in-depth analysis of new theories and showcases the current research status and development trends of cutting-edge topics. The book is divided into five major parts: individual decision-making, game theory, market equilibrium and market failures, general equilibrium, and welfare economics and incentives.
Part I starts with a general analysis of individual behavior and relatively comprehensively introduces classic consumer and producer theories, as well as personal choices under uncertainty. The second part is game theory, which elaborates on various solution concepts and analytical methods for static and dynamic games, analyzing individual decision-making under mutual influence. The third part covers market equilibrium and market failures, providing detailed introductions to basic models of information economics, including externalities and public goods, market monopoly, adverse selection, and principal-agent theory. The fourth part discusses general equilibrium theory, introducing various concepts related to general equilibrium, including existence and stability of equilibrium and welfare characteristics. The fifth part involves welfare economics and incentive issues, analyzing the possibility of aggregating individual preferences into social preferences under comparable and incomparable conditions, as well as normative analysis of social choice and economic mechanism design when information about individual preferences is incomplete.
The mathematical appendix at the end of the book provides readers with the necessary basic mathematical knowledge. Each chapter offers detailed references for further study and research topic exploration, while the exercises provided for each chapter, with varying levels of difficulty, are very helpful for students to test their mastery of the content. The three authors of this book—Andrew Mas-Colell, Michael D. Winston, and Jerry R. Green—have long been engaged in teaching graduate-level microeconomics courses at universities such as Harvard University and other top institutions in the world, and have made significant contributions in their respective research fields. This book is the result of their many years of teaching and collaboration.