Microeconomic Theory
Author: Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael D. Whinston, Jerry R. Green
List Price: $102.00
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ISBN: 0195073401
Publisher: Oxford Press (June, 1995)
Sales Rank: 43,215
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
"Mas-Colell"
Microeconomic Theory - known simply as 'Mas-Colell' to affectionate graduate students - is a difficult text on which to impossible a single "star" rating. The text is divided into several sections. The first of which introduces the reader to choice theory and the theory of the firm. This section is easily the worst treatment I have read in an educational work in any field. Useless diagrammatical references, pathological exercises, and absurd notation typify the first section. This section of the text is preferred by specialized theoretical microconomists and by predominantly non-American first year graduate students who have already been introduced to the material in a tractable text (such as Varian). This section gets 1 star for its comprehensive references. Conversely, the general equilibrium section is excellent. The author actually introduces concepts and explains their relevance. This section is still dense, complicated, and comprehensive: sufficiently "graduate" enough for any program. Overall, the text book is comprehensive, and makes a fairly good reference source. Nevertheless, learning from this book is akin to learning medicine from the Physicians Desk Reference; I suspect the book retains popularity across academia solely as a fraternal rite of passage: "I survived this ridiculous book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Excellent book
To AL SNOW: Please read Milton Friedman "The Methodology of Positive Economics"--that should clarify for you the issues concerning unrealism of assumptions, and Gary Becker "The Economic Approach to Human Behavior"--that should clarify for you the relevance of economics for understanding the real world. By the way, there is not a single equation in either of the articles, don't worry!As for MWG, I think the book is excellent. It is correct that the book is quite technical but hey, if you have come up to the point where you want to study advanced microeconomics, you should be afraid of anything but mathematics. So if you find reading the books difficult, my advice is learn first the necessary math (Jehle and Reny provides a good review) and then read MWG because you will learn a lot once you are able to handle the technical stuff. For instance, the section on general equilibrium is truly superb!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Complete, well explained and concise
This is a really good book for those who are taking graduate courses or comprehensive exams in Microeconomics. It covers almost everything one needs to know about microeconomics and can be used as a reference book. It sure gets into technicalities too, but one has always the option to skip them and focus on general ideas. Only that the "Game Theory" section is not the best you can find. Some complementary texts is recommended for that section. Similar Products
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