| Anderson & Chasey | Favorite Ways to Learn Economics |
| William J. Baumol & Alan S. Blinder | Economics, Principle and Policy |
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Principles of Economics |
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| Economics | |
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Principles of Economics |
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Economics, Private and Public Choice |
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| Richard G. Lipsey, Paul N. Courant & Christopher T. S. Ragan | Economics |
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Economics |
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| Turley Mings & Matthew Martin | The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts & Applications |
| John C. Pool & Ross M. LaRoe | The Instant Economist |
| Bradley Schiller | Economy Today |
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Principles of Macroeconomics |
Please click here to tell us which materials YOU use and any comments you might have.
Economic Education Station Home
Favorite Ways to Learn Economics, David A. Anderson and James Chasey
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This book is an ideal tool for converting sometimes confusing economic
concepts into very practical, very instructive experiences. I
appreciate how each activity can be adapted to accommodate different lesson plans and different learning
needs.
I just finished using the Money Multiplier exercise and it worked to perfection! A quick look and I thought WOW!
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Economics, Principle and Policy, William J. Baumol & Alan S. Blinder
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I use Baumol and Blinder. I personally like the text. Many of the students who have the choice of either McConnell or Baumol do not like the text. It is my more advanced students who seem to like this book. It is my opinion that the strength of Baumol is its Micro section and the strength of McConnell is its Macro section. | |
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I use Baumol and Blinder for Macro and Basically, the text is different so it makes the AP test look easy. I use supplemental explanations and examples from McConnell and Miller. It requires more work on your part, but it is a top notch text. In some cases you have to differentiate between the current research results published by B & B and the "correct" answers for the AP test. Little is mentioned of the relationship between savings and investment and there are several other "glossing overs". The kids feel empowered after using the text, however, and we consistently have more 5's than any other score. But its work, and you need a good AP supplement like the one by Morton or the "Cracking the AP Econ". |
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Principles of Economics, Karl E. Case & Ray C. Fair
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I’ve used Case and Fair for two years now, and find it very readable for the students. I do find, however, that for some more sophisticated questions from students, the answer is not in Case and Fair. | |
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I use Colander, 4th edition, Mc Graw Hill
Irwin. I think it has all of the same
material that the other popular selling texts do, but presents the material
in a much more interesting way. Students actually enjoy reading it,
which cannot be said for all of the AP level texts. The graphs are outstanding.
The support materials are outstanding. Study Guide, Instructor's
Manual, Test Banks (both print and CD-ROM), Discover Econ software,
Power Point, Overhead Transparencies, Economics Web Newsletter, Classic
Readings in Economics, Economics: An Honors Companion, and a very good
website. |
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Principles of Economics, Fred Gottheil
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I have been using McConnell for the past 5 years. It's fine but I recently previewed a text from Southwest Publishing written by Gottheil. It is fantastic - completely readable and enjoyable; yet totally college level. He covers everything in the AP exam. I don't know anything about the peripherals, but they have a great online site which digests articles and asks questions. My enrollment continues to grow and the need to meet the very varied academic levels in my class makes me long for this simplified version. |
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Economics, Private and Public Choice, Gwartney, Stroup, & Sobel
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I recently received a review copy of an economics textbook by Gwartney and Stroup, and it is fantastic!!! After 10 years of McConnell I think I am ready to switch. This book covers all the material with a tremendous amount of humor and real life applications. Altho I like McConnell's short quizzes for each graph, this new book has everything I've wanted in McConnell: sidebars with boldface word definitions, online supplements, CD-ROM student guides. Take a look if you can, I think I've fallen in love! | |
Economics, Richard G. Lipsey, Paul N. Courant & Christopher T. S. Ragan
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For AP Micro and Macro we use Lipsey/Courant, a hard text, similar in level to Baumol and Blinder. It Does well for both classes, although I think it handles Micro better than Macro. | |
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Economics, Campbell R. McConnell & Stanley L. Brue
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(Picture is of 13th edition)
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I decided to try McConnell and Brue in my summer session Macroeconomics course. I wasn't happy with it and won't be using it again. I like McConnell and Brue because it doesn't assume the students already know material for overall comprehension. I also like Baumol Blinder but when I use it I need to use more supplements to lay the foundation before teaching the economic theory. I use McConnell and Brue, 14th edition, Irwin McGraw Hill. It is probably the most popular book for AP and I think, one of the best. Its Key Graph Subsections are outstanding. From looking at the past AP multiple choice and free response questions it almost seems like the test writes use McConnell and Brue as a template for writing the questions. The support materials are outstanding with CD-ROM test banks for both Windows and Mac, two instructors CD-ROMs (Windows Only), Discover Econ Software tutorial (included with every student text, Windows only) and test banks and instructors notes in book form. They also have PowerPoint presentations on floppy disk or for download from their website. Make sure to pressure the book rep to include as much of this support material as possible. The rep included it all gratis when my district adopted the text last spring. Their website, http://www.mhhe.com/economics/mcconnell is also extensive, with areas for both teachers and students. My students’ main complaint with the text is that the authors tend to beat a dead horse and repeat an explanation over and over. I would tend to agree somewhat but I also explain to them that they do not have to read the whole explanation. Read until they comprehend and move on! |
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Of the many textbooks I have reviewed and used in the high school classroom, I find McConnell-Brue to be the most versatile. It not only provides the AP student all the essential material in a comprehensive way, but parts of it are also useful in the regular econ class. The authors do not write above the students’ heads. My only complaint is the test bank that accompanies the text. The questions provide only four possible answers as opposed the standard AP five. But one can always edit he questions for their own use! |
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I have to agree that I have great success with the 14th edition of McConnell and Brue. I particularly like the PowerPoint presentation. |
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The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts & Applications, Turley Mings & Matthew Martin
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As far as textbooks go for regular econ we use the Mings text. It is written to be used as a survey text and therefore is very vague in places, mentioning things really briefly with no explanation. Suggestions for a replacement text would be wonderful. | |
The Instant Economist, John C. Pool & Ross M. LaRoe
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I was looking for a good review for my students. Economics can be so complicated and wordy. I felt that the students needed to be able to tie the whole course together quickly. This book is excellent. In 100 pages it clearly writes to the students about Micro, Macro and international affairs. “There are three areas of economics every manager should understand: Macro, Micro and international.” The book states the principles simply, clearly and distinctly. Many of my students felt it was a very good wrap up. | |
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Economy Today, Bradley Schiller
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When I began teaching AP economics five years ago, our New England advisor used this textbook and he had enormous success with the book. I enjoyed his very good graphs that are large and very clear. The current events tidbits are good if they were current. I supplement the readings with current events. The workbook has excellent questions and exercises. There are only four answers for their questions, but you can adapt this well. The support material is not much. There is a text bank and overhead slides. That’s it for this edition. However, with Morton and current events you really do not need much more except for better questions for tests and class experiences. | |
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Principles of Macroeconomics, John B. Taylor
(Picture is of study guide) |
The book I am forced to use currently is John B. Taylor's Principles of Macroeconomics. It is a terrible program! The instructor’s Manual has numerous errors and its suggestions for activities would be laughable if they weren’t so boring or so inappropriate. Taylor seems to equate questions that use alcohol references to being cool and engaging discussion topics. The test bank prints questions with no correct answer, mislabeled answers or the same answer over and over. I have called the publisher on no less than five occasions and faxed them twenty pages of errors. I have only received the run-around and my favorite response (after the third call) was “This is the first we have heard of any such errors.” Our small school can’t purchase another text book for at least five more years so I have been using a class set of Cracking the AP Economics books I purchased with my own money and samples sent to me from publishers. | |
| Note: This text is no longer in print but similar titles by John B. Taylor are currently available. | ||
