Principles of Economics

coins with clock in background courtesy of pixabay

In American higher education the “Principles of Economics” course is the first course, or sequence of courses, undergraduate students take in college or at university.  Most often the principles course is divided into two one semester courses: Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics.  From there students generally go on to take the two “theory” or “intermediate” courses one each in macroeconomics and microeconomics.  Then onto elective courses and the economic statistics and econometrics course.  So, the “Principles of Economics” course(s) build the foundation of economic knowledge.

Unfortunately, the principles courses are often not taught very well. For a variety of reasons, economist have struggled to communicate basic concepts of our field to undergraduate freshman and sophomores. What makes things worse is, in my view, many of the principles textbooks are written by economists to impress other economists not, as they should be, to help students who are learning the subject.

So, my goal here is to throw principles students (or anyone else interested in learning the basics of modern-day economics) a life line.  

Below I will provide links to material that, I think, will help the reader/viewer to master the concepts in the principles of economics.  Some of this material has been created by others, but most of it will be things I have created. I will focus initially on microeconomics since there is more agreement on what topics should be covered in the principles of microeconomics but I will also add in material from principles of macroeconomics over time.

My hope this that you find this material useful, beneficial, and informative. If you are a student currently taking one of the Principle courses, I hope it helps you master the material and earn very high scores on your exams!

Topics for Both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

What is Economics?

© 2020-2025 Mike Brandl. All Rights Reserved.