COMPETITIVE QUESTIONING GRID Bade/Parkin, 4e vs.

Krugman/Wells

Bade/Parkin, Economics, 4e

Krugman/Wells, Economics, 2E

QUESTIONS
How much time are you spending in your course on Supply and Demand? Are you happy with your current texts treatment? Bade/Parkin devotes Chapter 4 to Supply and Demand. The chapter is focused on core concepts and student mastery. The chapter opener discusses spikes in gas prices and buyer decisions. An EYE on featured application is buying a flat-panel TV (pg 103). These real-world decisions make the concepts relevant to students lives. Extensive figures using color and explanatory captions illustrate and explain relationships between quantities and prices for all demand and supply situations, pg 86ff. Section Checkpoint 4.1 thoroughly covers basic ideas with 3 practice problems , 3 exercises and their solutions, pg 91. Extensive figures explain equilibrium concepts.- pg 99. Chapter Summary and Chapter Checkpoint thoroughly cover the key ideas in the chapter pgs 107-108. Chapter exercises are news based and include a category of critical thinking and web activities pgs 109ff. Krugmans Ch 3 introduces Supply and Demand. Krugman is expository (what to memorize) where Bade/Parkin is analytic (how concepts affect students lives). Krugmans Chapter 3 opens with an example on how coffee drinking can become an expensive habit but does not emphasize an individuals buying decisions. Krugman is busy with sidebars where Bade/Parkin is focused on core concepts and structured practice pedagogy. The design of the chapter and layout doesnt clearly hit on the relevance to students like the Bade/Parkin text. Please refer to Bade/Parkin for Ch 4 and overall book design. Krugman uses the Quick Review feature to make sure students can memorize the material presented , but it does not lead students to deeper understanding. Pg 71. Krugman uses Check Your Understanding as a mini quiz throughout the chapters, pg 71. It will prepare students for an exam, but it is NOT a learning aid and will not help them understand the

How early do you like to cover Comparative Advantage?

Bade/Parkin cover Comparative Advantage in Ch. 3 (pg. 75). Ch 3 discusses comparative advantage in introducing gains from trade and market economies. Issues of the global economy are introduced in this chapter. Section Checkpoints provide thorough practice and immediate feedback on core concepts. See pg 78.

In the Microeconomic portion of the course, how do your students respond to the elasticity coverage? Is it a difficult topic for them to understand?

In the Microeconomic portion of the course, where do you prefer to cover Market Failure and Externalities?

Bade/Parkin covers this topic in Ch 5. The effects of high gas prices on driving behavior opens the chapter. Algebra of price changes is explained step-by-step. (pg112) Extensive visual summaries and calculations illustrate price elasticity of demand and supply. (pg 115 and pg 117). Checkpoints thoroughly cover chapter ideas. See pg 132. EYE on the Global Economy (pg131) compares international income elasticities for a wide range of goods and services, ties concepts together with real-world data. Bade/Parkin introduce efficiency and fairness concepts in Ch 6 (pg 137ff), covering topics of resource allocation and obstacles to efficiency. Bade/Parkin provide two chapters of coverage,

material. For Inquiring Minds are Krugman boxes that attempt to connect econ concepts to interesting news topics, but are superficial and students will skip right over them. Krugmans Comparative Advantage coverage is in Ch. 2. It also includes an international framework (pgs 29-35). Point out to the professor that the intro example about the invention of the airplane (pg 23 micro text) isnt an economic one. Bade/Parkin uses much more compelling examples for students in their chapter, especially all of the individual level economic decisions. Krugman covers Elasticity in Ch 6 (micro text). Krugman goes into taxation and elasticity at the end of the chapter (pgs 158-162 micro text), which is unnecessary because the elasticity chapter is too long already. Bade/Parkin leaves out the taxation and the focuses on just core concepts. Compare Krugmans opening vignette for Chapter 6 about elasticity being more precious than a flu shot to Bade/Parkins much more engaging and appealing example of making driving decisions in response to gas prices.

Krugman introduces information on efficiency and market assumptions in his Ch4, much more superficially. Krugman Ch 17 on Externalities and Ch 18 Market Failure are very

In the Microeconomic portion of the course, how do you like to cover Market Structures?

Externalities (Ch 10, pg 241ff) and Public Goods and Common Resources (Ch 11, pg 265ff). Ch 10 starts by defining negative and positive externalities of production and consumption. Ch 10 discusses private solutions to externalities (the Coase theorem, pg 248) and public policies (taxes, tradable pollution permits pg 250). Uses research on new energy sources as an example. Fusion example is on pg 241. Ch 11 begins by distinguishing between private, public, and common goods (pg 266ff). Ch 11 explains the freerider problem and discusses the tragedy of the commons. Uses music piracy and effects of tourism on forests for opening examples, motivating student interest (pg 265). Bade/Parkin provides a new Ch 9 on international trade (pg 213ff) and 5 chapters on market foundations and structures. Ch 9 Global Markets in Action is a new chapter that explains how markets work within international trade and covers issues of globalized markets. EYE on the U.S. Economy analyses U.S. exports and imports (pg 215). Blade/Parkin has extensive coverage of the firms production and costs (Ch 13, pg 319ff) as a foundation for understanding the 4 market structures: perfect competition (Ch 14, pg 347ff); monopoly (Ch 15, pg 375ff); monopolistic competition Ch 16, pg 407ff); oligopoly (Ch 17, pg 431ff).

cluttered with sidebars and boxed items not clearly tied to the main discussion. Krugman includes too many margin graphs and notes, which make the pages in these 2 chapters very distracting to students. There is A LOT going on in these pages. The examples in Krugman are very dry; ie Economics In Action on pg. 472 is about the tale of two Fisheries. It is shallow description without insights, unlike Bade/Parkins (pg 279) coverage of overfishing as an example of the tragedy of the commons.

Bade/Parkin coverage is much more appealing to students, because of the variety of real world examples, whereas Krugman uses the same hypothetical tomato farmer example throughout Ch 13 (micro text). Krugmans coverage of the Firm and Organizations is dispersed in the book and not coherent like Bade/Parkin, with a full chapter (Ch 13 pg 317ff).

Do your students ever have trouble completing the endof-chapter problems you assign because they forget how to work them through?

Would you prefer to use all real world examples to bring out economic applications if you could? How do you bring out Economic Applications?

Ch 15 on monopoly opens by discussing the cable and satellite TV providers. EYE on the U.S. Economy analyzes airline fares resulting from industry deregulations (pg 400). Ch 17 on oligopoly includes discussion of antitrust law and predatory pricing, along with studying cartels and price fixing. A showcase discussion examines the recent U.S. case against Microsoft Corporation (pg 451). Bade/Parkin provides several review and problem opportunities offering immediate practice and feedback that reinforce and aid student learning. The EYE on boxed item features analyze economic situations reported on in the news and that illustrate concepts in the chapter, pg 119. Checkpoint practice problems and exercises, with solutions, appear at the end of each section and at the end of the chapter keyed to the chapter summary, pg 342. Bade/Parkin emphasizes applying economic core concepts to current events, using real-life applications in the text discussion and in a variety of features. Chapter Opening vignettes pose questions about important applications of economic theory. Show Ch 12, pg. 289 about predicting consumer choices for spending their incomes. See the Ch 14 Perfect Competition chapter Checkpoint analyzing market structures of a variety of everyday products from wheat to

Krugman has End of Chapter Problems but nothing that attempts to offer the student newsbased problems. Krugman is criticized for a disconnect between the qualitative chapter discussion and the math chapter problems the math is not adequately explained in the text. Bade/Perkin has more analytical, economic decision-making problems than Krugman.

Krugman has opening material, Inquiring Minds sections, sidebars, Economics in Action, and cartoons to bring out economic applications. However, unlike Bade/Parkin, the book does not focus on core concepts. Krugman has so much extra chapter material that it is hard to decipher when the real or core content ends, and application examples begin; see pages 120-138 or 146-163. The Krugman text is busy and it separates out some of the applications in

How good is your current text at making economic concepts relevant to the students in the course?

printer cartridges to farm air pollution (pg 372). Show Ch 5 Elasticities EYE on the Global Economy (pg 119) about global price elasticities of demand for a range of everyday goods from food to clothing to transportation. Show Ch 13 Production and Costs Checkpoint 13.4 explaining a business firms long-run average cost curves (pg 342). Current issues in the news appear in each chapter in Bade/Parkin from the opening vignette to the end-of-chapter problems. Bade/Parkin students learn to use economic tools to analyze their own economic decisions; for example, changing driving behavior in response to gasoline prices (pg 111). Students learn the materials better when they see the importance and application of the topics to their own lives and in nontrivial decision situations. Well structured Checklist, Checkpoints, summaries, exercises, and EYE on boxed items thoroughly reinforce core concepts without overwhelming the student with too many ideas at once. Student learning aids help to reinforce the chapter materials in alternative ways without drowning them in details. Chapter Opening vignettes pose questions about important applications of economic theory. Show Ch 12, pg. 289 about predicting consumer choices for spending their incomes. See the Ch 14 Perfect Competition chapter Checkpoint analyzing market structures of a

boxes or in the margins, so they might be skipped by readers. Bade/Parkin examples have more depth, engage thinking, and are focused on the material covered in the chapter unlike the Krugmans examples. Bade/Parkin examples are more consistently based on examples relevant to students and decisions thy make in their lives. Krugman has chapter opening vignettes like Bade/Parkin in each chapter of the book, but they are not as relevant to students own decisions as in Bade/ Parkin. Krugmans Check Your Understanding feature uses calculate or fact or concept check examples rather than real and stimulating what and why questions in Bade/Parkin Checkpoints. Show pg. 147 in Krugman, where the questions in Check Your Understanding pertain to calculate strawberry prices and the price elasticity for ice-cream, compared to Bade/Parkin what and why questions in the Checkpoint on page (342) Pitfalls in Krugman are boxes to explain difficult concepts in more depth. They are written in the margin, off to the side, whereas those topics in Bade/Parkin are part of the text discussion. Students will skip over Pitfalls, but will definitely be kept on task in Bade/Parkin.

How do you prepare your students to analyze and understand current news articles as they relate to Economics Concepts?

variety of everyday products from wheat to printer cartridges to farm air pollution (pg 372). Show Ch 5 Elasticities EYE on the Global Economy (pg 119) about global price elasticities of demand for a range of everyday goods from food to clothing to transportation. Show Ch 13 Production and Costs Checkpoint 13.4 explaining a business firms long-run average cost curves (pg 342). Bade/Parkin chapter opening vignettes pose engaging questions about everyday economics events in the news. Text discussion directly addresses important economic activities frequently in the news and requiring understanding; i.e. concepts like GDP. The EYE on boxed item features analyze economic situations reported on in the news. Checkpoint practice problems and exercises and end-of-chapter exercises all draw on current news for illustrations of chapter concepts. Chapter Opening vignettes pose questions about important applications of economic theory. Show Ch 12, pg. 289 about predicting consumer choices for spending their incomes. See the Ch 14 Perfect Competition chapter Checkpoint analyzing market structures of a variety of everyday products from wheat to printer cartridges to farm air pollution (pg 372). Show Ch 5 Elasticities EYE on the Global Economy (pg 119) about

Economics in Action is the feature that Krugman has in each chapter, which are case studies that provide a short application for the major concept just covered in that section, pg 47. Economics In Action boxes are very short, and do not usually use real companies or businesses to illustrate the concept. In addition, these scenarios do not have graphs of critical thinking analysis to accompany the material. Unlike Bade/Parkin, the chapter openers in Krugman are not based on recent new stories, and they are very dry.

In the Macroeconomic portion of the course, how much time do you cover the Aggregate Expenditures Model (Keynesian Cross) and the AD/AS Models? Does everyone on the committee cover it that way?

Would you like to give your students more practice with Graphing?

global price elasticities of demand for a range of everyday goods from food to clothing to transportation. Show Ch 13 Production and Costs Checkpoint 13.4 explaining a business firms long-run average cost curves (pg 342). Bade/Parkin provides an entire chapter on AS-AD and the business cycle (Ch 29) and a whole chapter on the aggregate expenditures (Ch 30). In Ch 29, EYE on the Past analyzes Oil Price Cycles in the U.S. and the Global Economies (pg767); this ties together many core ideas in the chapter. In Ch 30, EYE on the Past Says Law and Keynes Principle of Effective Demand explains the basis of modern analysis of aggregate expenditures (pg 788). Bade/Parkin comes with MyEconLab, which offers 3 types of graphing problems (1. Draw-Graph problems, 2. Model-Based problems, 3. Data-graph problems) and questions that are integrated into assignments to allow students to manipulate and even draw graphs. Students can get immediate feedback as they work the problem, and MyEconLab is the only program that can grade graphs the students actually draw! MyEconLab more closely resembles the blank graph tests they will be taking than Aplia.

Krugman covers AD/AS in Ch 12 (macro text), and Income and Expenditure in Ch 11 (macro text).

Krugman comes with Aplia, which gives students access only to the graphing tools necessary for that problem. They are often asked to shift a curve, but seldom asked to actually draw from a blank graph. Aplia has hundreds of problems, but none are algorithmic, so students do not get more practice with similar exercises so that they can truly understand a problem. Aplia tends to be much more costly than MyEconlab. A professor must play a role in the use of Aplia, where with MyEconLab the prof does not need to assign problems in MyEconLab due to the pre-loaded tests and study plans for students.

How often do you assign problems for homework? Who grades the homework you assign? Would you assign more homework if grading werent an issue?

MyEconLab allows instructors to assign certain or all questions and it grades the homework for them! MyEconLab also comes with preloaded problems that are specific to the Bade/Parkin book, and all the instructor has to do is choose which problems to assign, and when the assignment is due. Once the student completes the assignment, MyEconLab grades their performance and deposits the grade into an online grade book.

The Aplia framework also lets instructors choose to assign pre-loaded and does the grading for them. However, unlike MyEconLab, students only get feedback when they guess incorrectly-there is no step-by-step help in solving problems or answering questions, no e-Text access while in a homework question, and there is no study plan. Instructors using Aplia frequently complain about the depth and breadth of material. In addition, a professor must play a role in the use of Aplia, where with MyEconLab the prof can assign MyEconLab and not need to assign homework or problems due to the pre-loaded tests and study plans for students.

Highlights of new edition updates

Bade/Parkin Foundations of Economics 4e teaches beginning economics students to swim without throwing them into the deep end of the pool. It is not a dummied down book. Rather, it focuses on teaching core concepts and on learning by doing. It takes students along four paths to clarity: 1. continuous practice and immediate reinforcement; 2. seamless integration of print and online resources; 3. color diagrams that step through actions; and 4. real-world applications. For maximum flexibility, the book covers all standard topics of the principles of economics curriculum and in an order that is prevalent in todays classrooms. It is a micro first book where general ideas about efficiency and fairness are

Consider This (In the Macro Krugman Split) In Krugmans Macroeconomics 2e text, A condensed version of the cs/ps chapter is now an appendix to the international trade chapter (Ch 5). This means that the macro split version of their ceilings/floors chapter (Ch 4) has been rewritten from the micro split version so as not to refer to cs/ps. The international trade chapter is also slightly rewritten but still uses cs/ps. I think this is very awkward because cs/ps is used extensively in the chapter (beginning on p. 128) with only a very brief explanation and a reference to the chapter appendix. Krugmans Updates not as Extensive as one would think:

covered early (in chapter 2) with related further topics of major policy issues covered in later chapters. Chapter 3 now (in the fourth edition) provides carefully paced instruction about production possibilities before studying the basics of supply and demand in chapter 4. This order aids those who wish to teach policy issues early, for example by chapter 5 when treating elasticity. New chapters on global markets (Ch 9) and uncertainty and information (Ch 19). New checkpoints, problems and exercises are based on news stories about todays major economic events. New EYE on Your Life boxes help students apply principles to their personal daily-life economic decisions.

Deespite the late pub date, Krugmans updating is not as extensive as it might be. For instance, look at Figure 6-4 (p. 162) where the Great Depression is compared with the 1981-1982 and 2001 recessions, rather than the current downturn. Or look at Figure 8-11 (p. 219), which shows the unemployment rate still declining. Or look at this from the opener to the AD/AS chapter (Ch 12): "And in the first half of 2008, the threat of stagflation seemed to have raised its head again. Why did the economic difficulties of early 2008 look so different from those of 2001?" This was probably written in the summer of 2008 when they expected to pub in the fall. When publication was delayed, this opener was not rewritten. A fair number of their stats end in 2007 because the text was largely set before the end of 2008 (see, for instance, Figures 13-2 and 13-3 (p. 353), which show government spending and taxes for 2007). (Note that some of the references to the most recent events appear to have been hurriedly written: "For much of 2008, however, Bernanke faced much more difficult problems." (p. 315))

Krugmans Ch 11 on the incomeexpenditure model now begins with the multiplier: Krugmans Ch 11 (macro text) on the income expenditure model now begins with the multiplier. This is unusual. Most books build the income-

expenditure model first, and end with the multiplier. I believe Krugmans approach is a mistake and I would guess that few adopters who use this chapter will like the new ordering of topics. They apparently did it this way so that instructors who want a full explanation of the multiplier -- but don't want to develop the whole income-expenditure model -- can just assign the beginning of Ch 11 and skip the rest.