Week 10 — Readings & Resources

Course: Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Kessler
Focus: Perfect Competition — the Price-Taking Firm · Objective 6

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. 8, "Perfect Competition" (§8.1 Perfect Competition and Why It Matters; §8.2 How Perfectly Competitive Firms Make Output Decisions; §8.3 Entry and Exit Decisions in the Long Run)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   The price-taker firm, the P = MC output rule, profit/loss rectangles, the shutdown decision, and the long-run zero-profit result. This is the week's spine.

2. Khan Academy — Microeconomics → "Perfect competition." Work through the core videos on the profit-maximizing rule and the shutdown decision.
   🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics
   Short worked clips with self-check practice; covers P = MR, P = MC, and profit rectangles visually.

3. Marginal Revolution University (MRU) — Principles of Economics: Microeconomics, "Perfect Competition" unit.
   🔗 https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics
   Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok's clear videos on the competitive firm's output decision, the shutdown rule, and long-run equilibrium.

▶️ Watch (≈15 min)

4. CrashCourse Economics #23 — "Monopolies and Anti-Competitive Markets" (note: watch the first segment only — the contrast with perfect competition)
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO
   Use this as a preview of the contrast coming next week; the PC vs. monopoly framing sharpens the Week-10 concepts.

5. CrashCourse Economics #22 — "Oligopolies and Monopolistic Competition" (browse for the perfect-competition baseline sections)
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO
   Optional but useful for placing perfect competition in the market-structures spectrum.

🛠️ Tools for this week (links only)

6. Desmos Graphing Calculator — plot ATC, AVC, and a horizontal price line to visualize the profit or loss rectangle.
   🔗 https://www.desmos.com/calculator
   Free, no account. Try plotting three horizontal lines and a U-shaped ATC curve.

7. FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data — for real-world context on competitive industries (e.g., agricultural commodity prices).
   🔗 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
   Search "corn price" or "wheat price" for a look at price-taker commodity markets.

Why these earn the click: OpenStax Ch. 8 is the week's analytical spine; Khan and MRU give the same ideas in voice and visual motion; CrashCourse places PC in the broader structures sequence; Desmos lets you plot the profit rectangle; FRED grounds the theory in a real commodity market.