may even contribute to some income-enhancing accumulation of human
capital by some of our readers.
Substantive Changes to This Edition
We have revised and updated the entire text with guidance from feedback
from both users and nonusers of the previous editions of this book. We
have striven very hard to improve the teachability and readability of the
book. We have focused the discussions so that each major point is
emphasized as clearly as possible, without distracting the reader with
nonessential points. As in recent editions, we have kept all core material
in the main part of the text. Three types of boxes (Applying Economic
Concepts, Lessons from History, and Extensions in Theory) are used to
show examples or extensions that can be skipped without fear of missing
an essential concept. But we think it would be a shame to skip too many
of them, as there are many interesting examples and policy discussions in
these boxes.
What follows is a brief listing of the main changes that we have made to
the textbook.