Principles of Economics, 1st Australian edition, is an adaptationof an original work by internationally
renowned economists Joseph Stiglitz and Carl Walsh. The adaptingAustralian author team have
contextualised the content to suit the needs of Australianuniversity students.
Key introductory microeconomic and macroeconomics concepts areexplained using the latest theory
and research, with data relevant to the Australian economy.Throughout the text, these concepts are
applied to contemporary local economic issues for businesses andindividuals, such as:
• The Australian dollar
• The mining industry
• The National Broadband Network
• Petrol prices
• Privatisation
• The banking and finance sectors
• The automotive industry
• The carbon tax
• The ageing population
• Skills shortages
• International trade
In addition to a thorough analysis of the contemporary economiclandscape in Australia, the text
provides useful international comparisons with economies in Asiaand Europe, as well as that of the
United States.
At a concise 15 chapters, this textbook is an ideal resource for aone semester university course in
introductory economics
Joseph E Stiglitz is university professor at Columbia andCo-Chair of Columbia’s Committee on Global Thought. He isalso the co-founder and co-president of the Initiative for PolicyDialogue at Columbia. Before joining the Columbia faculty, he heldappointments at Yale, Oxford, Princeton and Stanford.Internationally recognised as one of the leading economists of hisgeneration, Professor Stiglitz has made important contributions tovirtually all of the major subfi elds of economics, in particularthe economics of information, one of the key topics highlighted inthis text. Recognised around the world as a leading economiceducator, he has written textbooks that have been translated intomore than a dozen languages.
In 2001, Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for hisanalyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a leadauthor of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier in hiscareer, he received the American Economic Association’s JohnBates Clark Medal, which is given every two years to the mostoutstanding economist under the age of forty. In 2011, Timemagazine named Stiglitz one of the 100 most infl uential people inthe world. Stiglitz was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisersduring the Clinton administration, and later served as ChiefEconomist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. In 2008, hechaired the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performanceand Social Progress, and in 2009 he was appointed by the UnitedNations General Assembly as chair of the Commission of Experts onReform of the International Financial and Monetary System.
In 2010, Stiglitz was invited to speak by the Economics Society ofAustralia, and gave a number of media interviews on his tour. Inparticular, he made comment on the state of the local economy inthe aftermath of the global fi nancial crisis, the role of naturalresources, and the country’s response to climate change.
Carl E Walsh is distinguished professor of economics andChair of the Department of Economics at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz, where he teaches principles of economics.He previously held faculty appointments at Princeton and theUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand, and has been a visitingprofessor at Stanford. Walsh’s research deals primarily withcentral banking and issues associated with the theory of monetarypolicy. His recent work has focused on the role of transparency andmonetary policy announcements, the role of the cost channel in thetransmission of monetary policy, and the integration of moderntheories of unemployment into frameworks for monetary policyanalysis.
Before joining the Santa Cruz faculty, Walsh was senior economistat the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where he continues toserve as a visiting scholar. He has also been a visiting scholar atthe Federal Reserve Banks of Kansas City, Philadelphia, and at theBoard of Governors. He has taught courses in monetary economics tothe research department and staff economists at the central banksof Hong Kong, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, andat the International Monetary Fund. He is currently co-editor ofthe International Journal of Central Banking, and an associateeditor of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking and the Journalof Economics and Business. He is also on the editorial boards ofthe Journal of Macroeconomics and New Zealand Economic Papers.
Ross Guest is a professor of economics at Griffi thUniversity, an adjunct professor with the Australia and New ZealandSchool of Government (ANZSOG), a senior teaching fellow with theOffi ce of Learning and Teaching, and co-editor of theInternational Review of Economics Education. He has a PhD ineconomics from the University of Melbourne. Guest was fi rstemployed as a lecturer at Monash University in 1991, and left in1998 to join Griffi th University where he was appointed toprofessor in 2003. He won a Carrick Citation for OutstandingContributions to Student Learning in 2006, has published over 80academic articles, and has received four grants as chiefinvestigator from the Australian Research Council. Guest was aninvited participant at the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit in2008.
Jeff Gow (B Ag Ec (Hons), M Ec and PhD (Monash)) is aprofessor of economics in the School of Commerce at the Universityof Southern Queensland, Toowoomba. He is also a research associateof the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) atthe University of KwaZulu- Natal, Durban, South Africa. Hisresearch interests encompass health economics (especially HIV/AIDSin Africa), and agricultural economics and policy, both inAustralia and overseas. He has won three nationally competitivegrants, and worked as a consultant to international organisationslike UNAIDS, USAID, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, andnational governments in South Africa, Britain, Sweden and Germany.Gow has over 20 years’ tertiary teaching experienceencompassing a wide range of economics courses —including both microeconomics and macroeconomics at theintroductory, intermediate and advanced levels — as well asspecialist courses in mathematical, health, agricultural, policy,international and environmental economics. He has supervised 15higher degree research students to completion and has 8 current PhDstudents.
Massimiliano Tani is an associate professor in theDepartment of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney. He holdsa PhD in economics from the Australian National University (2003),a graduate diploma in university learning and teaching (UNSW,2004), a MSc(Econ) from the London School of Economics (1992) and aLaurea in economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy (1989).Tani has taught macroeconomics for a decade, earning faculty anduniversity awards for excellence in teaching thanks to his abilityto communicate economic concepts approachably. His research workand interest focus on the creation of diffusion of knowledgeassociated with the international mobility of labour. His publishedresearch also addresses students’ educational choices andlabour market outcomes, participation anxiety, motivation, andattitude towards depression. Before moving to Australia in 1999,Tani lived in London, working in investment banking and as anoccasional research assistant at the Centre for EconomicsPerformance of the London School of Economics.
Bill Richmond is a former member of the School ofEconomics at the University of Queensland. He holds degrees fromthe University of Melbourne, the University of Birmingham (UK) andthe University of Queensland. Richmond currently coordinatescourses in introductory economic theory, economic history andeconomic policy at both the University of Southern Queensland andthe University of Queensland, as well as serving as Director of anot-for-profi t company (MindVentures), which offers educationalcourses to mature-aged people. He has previously lectured andtutored in a wide range of courses relating to the policyimplications of economic theory, including business economics andboth Australian and international political economy, as well asthose in microeconomic and macroecomic theory. Richmond’sparticular interests lie in the application of economic theory to arange of political and economic policies. He is particularlyconcerned that decision-makers in politics and business bringrigorous economic thinking to bear on such issues while maintainingan appreciation of their social and political dimensions.
