I. Introduction1. Economics: Foundations and Models 2. Trade-offs, Comparative Advantage, and the Market System 3. Where Prices Come From: The Interaction of Demand and Supply 4. Economic Efficiency, Government Price Setting, and Taxes II. Markets in Action 5. Externalities, Environmental Policy, and Public Goods 6. Elasticity: The Responsiveness of Demand and Supply 7. The Economics of Health Care III. Firms in the Domestic and International Economies 8. Firms, the Stock Market, and Corporate Governance 9. Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade IV. Microeconomic Foundations: Consumers and Firms 10. Consumer Choice and Behavioral Economics 11. Technology, Production, and Costs V. Market Structure and Firm Strategy 12. Firms in Perfectly Competitive Markets 13. Monopolistic Competition: The Competitive Model in a More Realistic Setting 14. Oligopoly: Firms in Less Competitive Markets 15. Monopoly and Antitrust Policy 16. Pricing Strategy VI. Labor Markets, Public Choice, and the Distribution of Income 17. The Markets for Labor and Other Factors of Production 18. Public Choice, Taxes, and the Distribution of Income  

Show students how economics is relevant Real-world business chapter-opening cases set a context for learning, spark students' interest, and provide a unifying theme for the chapter by showing how the economic concepts presented impact a real business. Many of the companies included are new to this edition, and all those featured in previous editions have been updated with current information. A Personal Dimension: Economics in Your Life feature in each chapter opener helps students relate to the material. Students are prompted to think about questions posed in this feature as they work through the chapter. At the end of the chapter, the authors provide answers to these questions. An Inside Look features at the end of each chapter help students apply economic thinking to current events and policy debates. These features consist of newspaper articles that illustrate how key principles have been used by the company featured in the chapter-opening case to make a business decision. The authors provide an analysis of the article, corresponding graph(s), and Thinking Critically exercises. Chapters 1—4 include new An Inside Look features that help students apply economic thinking to current events and policy debates. Additional articles and analysis are updated weekly on MyEconLab. Making the Connection features help students tie economic concepts to current events and policy issues by revealing how the information they are learning has been used in actual situations. The fifth edition incorporates 27 new, contemporary Making the Connection features designed to help students see the relevance of course material. NEW! A heavily revised Chapter 7, The Economics of Health Care, now includes several new demand and supply graphs that make the chapter’s content more analytical as well as more effective as an example of applied demand and supply analysis. The discussion of the debate over President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been extensively updated as well. NEW! Chapter 10, Consumer Choice and Behavioral Economics, has been updated to include a new section on “The Behavioral Economics of Shopping,” which details the problems Ron Johnson encountered as CEO of J.C. Penney. This new content also includes coverage of several behavioral studies of consumer choice, strengthening what was already one of the text’s most engaging microeconomics chapters. Foster thorough understanding via a flexible, student-focused approach An accessible writing style brings concepts to life. 94% of 1,500 students from different colleges and universities across the country who reviewed Hubbard/O'Brien rated the writing style an "A" or "B" compared to their current Principles of Economics textbook in use. Solved problems throughout the text provide models of how to solve an economic problem by breaking it down step-by-step. Each solved problem includes a problem statement, delineated steps to solve the problem, a graph, and a Your Turn feature that directs students to related end-of-chapter problems for immediate practice. This keeps students focused on the main ideas of each chapter, and prevents them from getting bogged down due to a lack of basic math or word-problem skills. A flexible presentation of aggregate demand and aggregate supply (AD-AS) enables instructors to teach the course in a fashion that suits their goals. The text includes a layered, full-color acetate for the Dynamic AD-AS Model and basic AD-AS graphs that make it possible to omit Dynamic AD-AS altogether.