Week 12 — Readings & Resources

Course: Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Kessler
Focus: Monopolistic Competition & Oligopoly · Objective 7

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. 10, "Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly" (§10.1 Monopolistic Competition; §10.2 Oligopoly)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   Product differentiation, the long-run zero-profit result, excess capacity, and the basics of strategic interaction. This is the week's core reading.

2. OpenStax, Principles of Microeconomics 3e — Ch. 10, §10.3 "Oligopoly" (payoff matrices, the prisoner's dilemma, why cartels are unstable)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
   Read alongside §10.2; the prisoner's dilemma example is the key section.

3. Khan Academy — Microeconomics → "Imperfect competition." Read/skim Oligopolies and game theory and Nash equilibrium.
   🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics
   Worked examples with self-check practice questions — ideal preparation for the Workshop payoff matrix.

▶️ Watch (≈15 min)

4. CrashCourse Economics #26 — "Game Theory and Oligopoly." (Adriene Hill & Jacob Clifford)
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO
   Episode 26 of the playlist — covers the prisoner's dilemma, Nash equilibrium, and why cartels break down. ~10 min. Required watch this week.

5. Marginal Revolution University (MRU) — Principles of Economics: Microeconomics, "Oligopoly and game theory" unit.
   🔗 https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics
   Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok's short videos on dominant strategies and the Nash equilibrium — concise and very clear.

🛠️ Tools for this week (links only)

6. Google Sheets (free) or Microsoft Excel — for building and reading the 2×2 payoff matrix in the Workshop.
   🔗 https://sheets.google.com
   No download needed; sign in with a Google account or use the campus Microsoft 365 license.

7. FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data — for real-world oligopoly context (e.g., airline industry data or wireless market concentration).
   🔗 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
   Optional: browse if you want real data on industry concentration.

Why these earn the click: OpenStax Ch. 10 is the week's spine; CrashCourse #26 is the most focused 10-minute treatment of the prisoner's dilemma you'll find; MRU's short clips complement the lecture; Khan gives self-check practice on payoff matrices before the Workshop.