Week 11 — Readings & Resources

Course: Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Kessler
Focus: Monopoly — Market Power, MR = MC & Deadweight Loss · 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. 9, "Monopoly" (§9.1 How Monopolies Form; §9.2 How a Profit-Maximizing Monopoly Chooses Output and Price; §9.3 The Inefficiency of Monopoly)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   The core reading: MR < P, MR = MC, the deadweight loss triangle, and monopoly vs. competition. Read through the worked numeric example.

2. OpenStax, Principles of Microeconomics 3e — Ch. 10, "Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly" (§10.1 skim, for context — monopolistic competition contrasted with monopoly)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   A light preview of next week; helps you see monopoly as one end of a spectrum.

3. Khan Academy — Microeconomics → "Monopoly and Oligopoly." Read/skim Monopoly basics, Monopoly profit maximization, Deadweight loss of monopoly.
   🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics
   Short, worked examples with practice questions.

▶️ Watch (≈15 min)

4. CrashCourse Economics #25 — "Monopolies and Anti-Competitive Markets."
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO
   Episode 25 of the playlist — market power, MR < P, antitrust. ≈10 min.

5. Marginal Revolution University (MRU) — "Monopoly" unit in Principles of Economics: Microeconomics.
   🔗 https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics
   MRU's short videos on the monopoly pricing rule, deadweight loss, and natural monopoly. Watch the 2–3 monopoly clips.

🛠️ Tools for this week (links only)

6. Desmos Graphing Calculator — for the Workshop: you'll plot demand (P = 100 − 2Q), MR (100 − 4Q), and MC (= 20), then find Qm and Pm graphically.
   🔗 https://www.desmos.com/calculator
   Type y = 100 − 2x (demand), y = 100 − 4x (MR), and y = 20 (MC). Watch where MR and MC cross.

7. (Optional) FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data — for context on market concentration data if you want real-world context on monopoly power.
   🔗 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/

Why these earn the click: OpenStax Ch. 9 is the spine of the week; CrashCourse and MRU cover the same ideas in motion; Khan provides self-check practice; Desmos is your graphing tool for the Workshop. Ch. 10 is a light preview so next week's monopolistic competition makes more sense.