Hubbard & O'Brien is the only book that motivates students to learn economics through real business examples.   

The #1 question students of economics ask themselves is: "Why am I here, and will I ever use this"?  Hubbard & O'Brien answer this question by demonstrating that real businesses use economics to make real decisions daily.  This is motivating to all students, whether they are business majors or not.  All students can relate to businesses they encounter in their everyday lives.   Whether they open an art studio, do social work, trade on Wall Street, work for the government, or bartend at the local pub, students will benefit from understanding the economic forces behind their work. 

Hubbard & O'Brien is the only book that motivates students to learn economics through real business examples.   

The #1 question students of economics ask themselves is: "Why am I here, and will I ever use this"?  Hubbard & O'Brien answer this question by demonstrating that real businesses use economics to make real decisions daily.  This is motivating to all students, whether they are business majors or not.  All students can relate to businesses they encounter in their everyday lives.   Whether they open an art studio, do social work, trade on Wall Street, work for the government, or bartend at the local pub, students will benefit from understanding the economic forces behind their work.

"Do your students ask themselves: "Why am I here?  When will I use this information?"  How do you motivate them to see that economics is a dynamic, relevant discipline?"

• Chapter-Opening Cases about how the economics about to be learned impact a real business (a) set a real context for learning (b) spark students' interest (c) provide a unifying theme for the chapter.  For example, Chapter 3 - "Where Prices Come From: The Interaction of Demand and Supply", opens with a discussion of how Hewlett-Packard's 2001 forecast for printers was off, because the company had not anticipated two significant events that reduced demand for computers. 
  • pg. 62-63
    

• Chapter Examples and Figures consistently revisit the business discussed in the opener and use that business (or industry) to motivate the economic principles.  For example, in Chapter 3, supply and demand is discussed using price per printer, and quantity of printers demanded.  Information from Epson, Lexmark, and Hewlett-Packard is used to show how to derive a market supply curve for the printer market, and so on. 
  • pg. 72-73: Making the Connection - "Estimating the Demand for Printers at Hewlett-Packard"
  • Pg. 74: Figure 3.7 - "Deriving the Market Supply Curve from the Individual Supply Curves (for Epson, Lexmark, and Hewlett-Packard)" 

• An Inside Look concludes chapters with a newspaper article illustrating how a key principle taught in the chapter was used by the chapter-opening case company to make a real business decision.  The authors provide an analysis of the article, corresponding graph(s), and Thinking Critically exercises.  For example, the Inside Look of Chapter 3 shows how Hewlett-Packard, utilizing knowledge of supply and demand laws, actually cut the price of their computers (and their profitability) to stimulate demand for their printers and ink cartridges (which are more profitable). Students (a) see how businesses use economics (b) gain a better understanding of the business climate (c) learn to critically read and analyze newspaper articles. 
  • pg. 88-89
    

OTHER POINTS OF DISTINCTION 

"How are your students' basic problem solving skills?  Are they comfortable with "word problems"?  Do they knowi where to begin solving an applied economics problem?  Do you find that many of the questions you get are less related to real economics, and more related to a lack of problem-solving skills?" 

• Solved Problems 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 directing students to a related end-of-chapter problem(s) 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.  
  • pg. 81, 88
  • pg. 85, 86
    

• Additional Solved Problems are provided throughout the materials that support the textbook.  Students can access additional, interactive versions at the MyEconLab siteand in the print study guide.  Instructors can walk students through solved problems using provided interactive PowerPoint solutions, and/or by utilizing the additional solved problems provided in the Instructors Manual (and tied to the relevant chapters).
  • pg. 325

"Are you dissatisfied with the AD-AS model as it's currently covered in your course?  Do you feel as though it's not really presenting an accurate, realistic picture of inflation?"  Are you interested in extending the model to account for more real world macroconomic scenarios?"

• A Dynamic AD-AS Model extends the traditional AD-AS model.  The AD-AS is a static model that attempts to account for dynamic changes in real GDP and the price level.  This problem is most evident when using the model to explain a recession caused by a decline in AD.  The static AD-AS model indicates that the price level falls in this situation, which has not happened in the post-World War II era.  The authors carefully develop the AD-AS model and then make it dynamic by emphasizing two points: (1) changes in the position of the short-run curve may depend on the state of expectations of the inflation rate (2) the existence of growth in the economy means that the long-run AS curve shifts to the right every year.  The dynamic AD-AS model makes it possible to explain real-world macroeconomic scenarios, something both the professor and the student will appreciate.
  • Chapter 24, pg. 388.

 "Would you like to add a further business emphasis to your course?"

• Optional Additional Business Emphasis: cover a core of macroeconomics topics, then lend an additional business emphasis to your course by covering a very unique chapter - Ch. 6: Business Firms, Corporate Governance, and the Stock Market. 
  • Table of Contents, Ch. 6

"Would you like to enliven your course by putting an early spotlight on a hot topic: international trade?"

• Coverage of Comparative Advantage begins in Ch. 2 with a brief introduction, and is continued early in the book with a dedicated Ch. 8: Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade.
  •  Chapter 2, pg. 44 
  • Table of Contents, Chapter 8
    

Part 1:  Introduction 

Chapter 1: Economics:  Foundations and Models

Appendix:  Using Graphs and Formulas

Chapter 2: Tradeoffs, Comparative Advantage, and the Market System

Chapter 3: Where Prices Come From: The Interaction of Demand & Supply

Chapter 4: Economic Efficiency, Government Price Setting, and Taxes

Appendix:  Calculating Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus

Part 2:  Markets in Action

Chapter 5:Externalities, Environmental Policy, and Public Goods

Chapter 6: Elasticity:  The Responsiveness of Demand and Supply

Part 3: Firms in the Domestic & International Economies

Chapter 7: Firms, the Stock Market, and Corporate Governance

Appendix:  Tools to Analyze Firms' Financial Information

Chapter 8: Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade

Appendix:  Multinational Firms

Part 4:  Microeconomic Foundations: Consumers and Firms

Chapter 9: Consumer Choice & Behavioral Economics

Appendix:  Indifference Curves

Chapter 10: Production, Technology, and Costs

Appendix:  Isoquants and Isocosts

Part 5:  Market Structure and Firm Strategy

Chapter 11: Firms in Perfectly Competitive Markets

Chapter 12: Monopolistic Competition:  The Competitive Model in a More Realistic Setting

Chapter 13: Oligopoly:  Firms in Less Competitive Markets

Chapter 14: Monopoly and Antitrust Policy

Chapter 15: Pricing Strategy

Part 6:  Markets for Factors of Production

Chapter 16: The Markets for Labor and Other Factors of Production

Part 7:  Information, Taxes, and the Distribution of Income

Chapter 17: The Economics of Information

Chapter 18: The Tax System and the Distribution of Income

Part 8:  Macroeconomic Foundations and Long-Run Growth

Chapter 19: GDP: Measuring Total Production and Income

Chapter 20: Unemployment & Inflation

Chapter 21: Business Cycles, the Financial System, and Economic Growth

Chapter 22: Long-Run Growth: Sources & Policies

Part 9:  Short-Run Fluctuations

Chapter 23: Output & Expenditure in the Short Run

Appendix:  The Algebra of Macroeconomic Equilibrium 

Chapter 24: AD/AS Analysis

Appendix:  Schools of Macro Thought

Part 10:  Monetary and Fiscal Policy

Chapter 25: Money, Banks, and the Federal Reserve System

Chapter 26: Monetary Policy

Chapter 27: Fiscal Policy

Chapter 28: Inflation, Unemployment, & Federal Reserve Policy

Part 11:  The International Economy

Chapter 29: Macroeconomics in an Open Economy

Chapter 30: The International Financial System

Where are you headed?

 No matter what your career, you will need to understand how economic forces affect you and your work.

 Hubbard/O’Brien, Economics, gives you the motivation and the tools to understand those forces.

 You’re on your way.

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