What does microeconomics look at in economics

Microeconomics and macroeconomics are not separate subjects, but rather complementary perspectives on the overall subject of the economy.

To understand why both microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives are useful, consider the problem of studying a biological ecosystem like a lake. One person who sets out to study the lake might focus on specific topics: certain kinds of algae or plant life; the characteristics of particular fish or snails; or the trees surrounding the lake. Another person might take an overall view and instead consider the entire ecosystem of the lake from top to bottom; what eats what, how the system stays in a rough balance, and what environmental stresses affect this balance.

Both approaches are useful, and both examine the same lake, but the viewpoints are different. In a similar way, both microeconomics and macroeconomics study the same economy, but each has a different viewpoint. Whether you are looking at lakes or economics, the micro and the macro insights should blend with each other. In studying a lake, the micro insights about particular plants and animals help to understand the overall food chain, while the macro insights about the overall food chain help to explain the environment in which individual plants and animals live.

In economics, the micro decisions of individual businesses are influenced by whether the macroeconomy is healthy; for example, firms will be more likely to hire workers if the overall economy is growing. In turn, the performance of the macroeconomy ultimately depends on the microeconomic decisions made by individual households and businesses. What determines how households and individuals spend their budgets? What combination of goods and services will best fit their needs and wants, given the budget they have to spend?

How do people decide whether to work, and if so, whether to work full time or part time? How do people decide how much to save for the future, or whether they should borrow to spend beyond their current means?

What determines the products, and how many of each, a firm will produce and sell? What determines what prices a firm will charge? What determines how a firm will produce its products? What determines how many workers it will hire? How will a firm finance its business? When will a firm decide to expand, downsize, or even close?

To understand the relationship between microeconomics and macroeconomics, contrast these questions with one that might be asked by a macroeconomists such as, "how does a change in interest rates influence national savings?

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Not much actual economics, a heck of a lot of graphs and theorems and definitions, very little insight into the history of economic thought, after which you won't know squat about how an economy actually runs.

And all micro textbooks are the same, doesn't matter if the writer is leftist or a libertarian. An intro to macroeconomics is super easy once you've done well in micro. Shouldn't require an inordinate amount of time. Cost and price have very specific, and different, definitions that you must understand. People think of things like "profit" in accounting terms, i. Now you will have to think about profits in economics terms, however.

It you're taking Econ the best professor that I can recommend is Dirk Mateer. He's very inspiring and makes class interesting. He's the reason I'm taking Economics classes and I wouldn't consider learning the course from another Professor. A lot of definitions and introductory concepts that get builded upon later. They're both fairly easy.