Essentials of Economics, 6th Edition

A lively introduction to the key principles of economics, shown through real-world business examples.

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Essentials of Economics, 6th Australian edition is the market-leading introductory text, making economic principles relevant by demonstrating how businesses, individuals and policymakers use them to make decisions every day. It provides the expected rigour for the discipline with easy-to-understand explorations of the key concepts while being highly supported by real-world business examples and policy applications that bring these concepts to life.

The 6th edition has been revised to provide students with the most up-to-date and relevant content they need to succeed in the field of economics. In the past few years, to take just a few relevant examples, we have witnessed the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into mainstream use, the runaway success of smartphones and tablet computers, the rapid growth of the sharing economy including companies such as Uber and Airbnb, increased policy debate about how best to address climate change, and experienced the global impact of the economic contractions and recessions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent high rates of inflation. This new edition helps students understand these changing economic realities.

Anne Garnett is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Murdoch University and at Sheridan Institute of Higher Education. She has extensive teaching experience at the undergraduate and postgraduate level and is the recipient of more than 20 Excellence in Learning and Teaching awards. Anne has taught in all areas of economics at all levels; however, over the past 20 years her primary teaching focus has been on first-year introductory economics. Her research areas include regional economics, labour economics, international investment and trade, and agricultural economics. Anne has been an adviser to the federal government on rural and regional economics. She has published numerous chapters in books and articles in international journals. She is also co-author of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics undergraduate texts published by Pearson Australia.

Phil Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Canberra and Director of the Centre for Labour Market Research. He is among the best-known economists in the area of employment, education and training in Australia and Asia. Phil is the author of over 120 publications, including journal articles, book chapters and books, and is the editor of The Australian Journal of Labour Economics. He has also worked extensively in government and has produced a number of major reports for the private sector and public sector. He has served as the National President of the Economic Society of Australia and President of the Canberra and Western Australian branches of the society, for which he has been awarded Life Membership. In 2008 Phil was presented with the Honorary Fellow Award by the Economic Society of Australia for exceptional service to the economics profession.

Glenn Hubbard is Dean Emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics in the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and Professor of Economics in Columbia's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a director of Automatic Data Processing, Black Rock Fixed-Income Funds, and MetLife. From 2001 to 2003 he served as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and chair of the OECD Economy Policy Committee, and from 1991 to 1993 he was deputy assistant secretary of the US Treasury Department. He currently serves as co-chair of the non-partisan Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. Glenn's fields of specialisation are public economics, financial markets and institutions, corporate finance, macroeconomics, industrial organisation and public policy. He is the author of more than 100 articles in leading journals.

Anthony Patrick (Tony) O'Brien is a Professor of Economics at Lehigh University. He has taught principles of economics for more than 20 years and has received the Lehigh University Award for Distinguished Teaching. He was formerly the director of the Diamond Center for Economic Education and was named a Dana Foundation Faculty Fellow and Lehigh Class of 1961 Professor of Economics. Tony has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. His research has dealt with such issues as the evolution of the US car industry, sources of US economic competitiveness, the development of US trade policy, the causes of the Great Depression and the causes of black-white income differences. His research has been published in leading journals.

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