Week 2 — Readings & Resources

Course: Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Kessler
Focus: Comparative Advantage & the Gains from Trade · Objective 1

Everything below is a link to a free external resource — nothing is embedded, copied, or downloaded. Links were verified live at build time; if one ever rots, the per-term update re-checks them. (Canvas: a Page of links + ExternalUrl module items.)

📖 Read (≈25 min)

1. OpenStax, Principles of Microeconomics 3e — Ch. 2, "Choice in a World of Scarcity" (§2.3 Confronting Objections to the Economic Approach; revisit §2.2 for the opportunity-cost foundation)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   The production possibilities frontier as the model underlying comparative advantage. Read the sections on trade-offs and opportunity cost — Week 2's logic builds directly on this foundation.

2. OpenStax, Principles of Microeconomics 3e — Ch. 19, "International Trade" (§19.1 Absolute and Comparative Advantage)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   The core reading for this week: absolute vs. comparative advantage, the two-country table, specialization, terms of trade, and gains from trade. This chapter is the week's spine.

3. Khan Academy — Microeconomics → "Basic economic concepts" → "Comparative advantage and the gains from trade."
   🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics
   Short worked articles and practice questions. Read the comparative-advantage articles; do the self-checks.

▶️ Watch (≈15 min)

4. CrashCourse Economics #2 — "Specialization and Trade." (Adriene Hill & Jacob Clifford)
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO
   Episode 2 of the playlist — absolute vs. comparative advantage, specialization, and why trade raises total production. ≈10 min.

5. Marginal Revolution University (MRU) — Principles of Economics: Microeconomics, "Gains from Trade" unit.
   🔗 https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics
   Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok's free course; the comparative-advantage videos are worked and interactive. Watch the 1–2 clips on comparative advantage and specialization.

🛠️ Tools for this week (links only)

6. Desmos Graphing Calculator — useful for plotting two-producer PPFs side by side.
   🔗 https://www.desmos.com/calculator
   Free, no account needed. Try plotting each country's frontier as a line.

7. (Optional) FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data — real trade-balance and export/import data for context.
   🔗 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
   Search "US trade balance" or "exports" if you want real data to motivate the discussion. Not required.

Why these earn the click: OpenStax Ch. 19 is the week's spine; CrashCourse and MRU give the same ideas in voice and motion; Khan gives self-check practice; Desmos is your graphing tool for the Workshop.