Designed for students whose academic majors would be enhanced by the complementary study of a widely shared but hard-to-operationalize aspiration: that present choices should preserve or improve future options rather than foreclose or degrade them. How should we understand sustainability? How might we achieve it? How would we know if we had achieved it? And how could sustainability activists of a rising generation lead by example?

Applies intermediate microeconomic theory to public policy issues: resource allocation by firms and consumers; the response of economic agents to changes in incentives; market allocations in competitive and non-competitive environments; and market failures and government remedies. Uses extended case studies of particular issues in such areas as the environment (acid rain), international trade (tariffs), industry regulation (cable TV), and the provision of public goods (highways).

Studies the behavior of the economy as a whole: the level of national income, unemployment, and inflation; the vulnerability of the U.S. economy to external influences; possible federal influence over the level of economic activity; and the consequences for prices, employment and the U.S. trade deficit. Also examines possible U.S. policy responses to widespread debt crises in developing countries.