Games Economists Play: Table 1 (Principles of Microeconomics)

I. THE BASICS		GAME #
1. DEMAND (FOR OUTPUT) • Demand; marginal and total utility; shifting demand curves		1, 2, 119, 133
2. SUPPLY (OF OUTPUT) • Supply; production; cost; marginal cost; cost-curves		3, 26, 27, 28, 29, 97, 107, 117, 129
3. THE PRICE SYSTEM • Supply and demand; equilibrium price and quantity; producer and consumer surplus		4, 5, 6, 7, 30, 31, 32, 91, 123, 137, 140
• Elasticities of supply and demand; effects on market clearing		7, 133
4. MARKET STRUCTURE, BEHAVIOR, and PERFORMANCE • Perfect competition; market entry		6, 7, 37, 38, 39, 96, 143, 167
• Monopoly; single-price; price-discriminating monopoly		8, 34, 35, 36, 40, 95, 159
• Monopolistic competition; product differentiation		64, 78
• Oligopoly; game theory; strategic behavior, bargaining		9, 10, 11, 18, 29, 41, 42, 43, 45, 70, 89, 101, 113, 118, 122, 126, 127, 138, 139, 147, 152, 172
5. INPUT MARKETS • Input markets; labor; labor unions; capital; land/natural resources		4, 5, 6, 7, 21, 30, 31, 39, 44, 46, 47, 78, 91*, 93, 111, 160, 164, 165
II. APPLYING THE BASICS
1. INTERNATIONAL TRADE • International trade in goods and services		4, 5, 6, 7, 30, 31, 39, 48, 49, 50, 51, 89, 90, 91, 98, 112, 128, 144, 173
2. CURRENCY MARKETS • The economics of foreign exchange markets		4, 5, 6, 7, 30, 31, 39, 84, 91, 116
III. BEYOND THE BASICS (Market Imperfections)
1. MARKET IMPERFECTIONS and INTERVENTION
• Price floors; price ceilings; quotas; entry/exit; third-party payer		4, 5, 6, 7, 30, 31, 32*, 37, 38, 39, 54
• Missing information; asymmetric information; information cascades		7, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 77, 78, 91*, 92, 93, 96, 99, 104, 130, 156, 161
• Institutions and changes in institutional arrangements		14, 33, 39, 100, 102, 121, 155
• Common-pool resources		57*, 58, 70, 75, 76, 135
• Externalities (positive, negative) and property rights
Negative externalities		19, 23, 71, 73, 74, 94, 106, 110, 125, 145, 150, 155, 163, 170, 175
Positive externalities		55, 61, 161
Acquisition of property rights; Coase Theorem bargaining		22, 23, 32, 72, 134, 135
• Public goods; free-rider problem; pareto-optimality		16, 17, 18, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 102, 109, 141, 157, 166, 168, 174
• Income and wealth distribution; fairness		12, 13, 14, 54, 56, 57, 88, 120, 136
2. THE ECONOMICS OF POLITICS
• Public choice, median voter, cyclical majority, rent-seeking		14, 15, 58, 59, 108, 124, 158, 169, 171

* Games marked with an asterisk could be adapted to these topics. Some adaptations may take more work than others.

Table 1 — Principles of Microeconomics