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There are a number of books on economics that can teach the reader the subject matter of economics--however, this is one of those rare books that can teach the reader how to think like an economist. I used this book in my first graduate-level course in economics and found that it really made me think. Why? Because, as the author states in the introduction, if we can effectively teach physics, mathematics, chemistry and other subjects to our students by assigning them a number of problems with varied levels of difficulty, why not economics? There is a great supply of interesting problems throughout the textbook that get the reader to grapple with the economic issues.

The first result of having to use this textbook was that I spent a good deal of time and effort on these problems--the credit for the foundation of whatever little I know about economics goes to this textbook. The second result is that it has had a huge impact on how I teach my classes, selecting those textbooks that have a plentiful supply of problems and emphasizing the role of problem solving in learning how to think like a financial economist.