Mighty Microeconomics

Economics helps us to understand that certain slick mechanisms are operating beyond what we see in our daily economic lives. To fully understand and appreciate these mechanisms, we need to master the core mathematical theories, some of which are highly advanced and typically covered in a graduate course. This textbook presents those theories without compromising rigor, but, at the same time, the author offers a number of innovative pedagogical twists that make the difficult materials completely accessible to undergraduate students, and even to general readers. Written in a chatty, colloquial style, the author explains basic messages and core insights that are usually hidden between the lines. The usefulness of these theories is shown through a number of real-life examples, and, in the end, the readers can see that the mathematical models provide deep insights into social justice and philosophy. This book helps readers to think like an economist.

Author Biography

Michihiro Kandori is Professor of Economics at University of Tokyo. He was former Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, and Taussig Visiting Professor at Harvard University. He is the president of the Game Theory Society (2022–2024) and was a former associate editor of Econometrica, and fellow of the Econometric Society. He has published numerous articles in high-impact journals. He received his PhD from Stanford University under the supervision of Nobel laureate, Paul Milgrom. He has consistently received high ratings for his ‘Welcome to Game Theory’ course on Coursera (more than 85,000 learners since 2015).