OVERVIEW

The role of the United States and China are pacesetting in the global economy. Greater cooperation will be essential to support the robustness of both economies. As a way of approaching this challenge, the Ministry of Economy of China has invited you to present a seminar to its key staff to better understand the conceptual framework of microeconomics in the U.S. economy. The minister feels that if his staff is better able to understand the U.S. perspective on microeconomics, the two countries might be able to work in a more cooperative way in the global economy. Please remember that this is a preliminary briefing paper that will be used to prepare Ministry of Economy staff for the seminar; it is not the seminar itself.

The briefing paper should include the following: introduction, private, common, and public goods, market structures and costs of productions, consumer behavior, taxation, government intervention, supply and demand, and economic growth, opportunity costs and decision making, conclusions and outcomes.