Suppose that you want to understand what’s going on in today’s economy: Where do you go? An economics textbook will give you the basic theory, but can’t keep up with the news. Meanwhile, news stories written by journalists — online, broadcast, or in print — will tell you the latest events, but very few will include the economic theory which provides the key context.

Trust me, I know. As chief economist of BusinessWeek, I have written countless economic stories over the past twenty years, including many which won journalism awards. I’ve also written an introductory economics textbook Economics: The Basics, (McGraw-Hill. 2009)

This site is designed to fill the gap between news stories and textbooks: real life economic news supplements and videos, which are reported, written and recorded for anyone who wants to understand the economy. Whether you are a beginning economics student, or someone who may have taken a college course years ago, the pieces are designed to be succinct, relevant, and interesting.

Each post (which may include one or more videos) delves into a different aspect of today’s economy, using one or more key economic concepts. For example, The Economics of a Subway Fare Hike uses two videos to show what happens when the price of an essential service goes up, based on the economic concept of elasticity.

I will provide a steady stream of these real life news supplements throughout the upcoming months, on topics ranging from banking to consumer spending. If there are any topics you would like me to cover, please drop me a note at mandeleconomics@gmail.com.

Note: Some news supplements will only be available to users of McGraw-Hill textbooks, through McGraw-Hill’s Connect homework system. Those will include problem sets specifically designed for beginning economic students.

Thanks,

Mike Mandel

About me: Michael Mandel is the author of the new textbook  Economics:The Basics from McGraw-Hill. As chief economist of BusinessWeek,  he is one of the few  journalists to hold a PhD  in economics (Harvard 1985). Mandel helps supervise the domestic and international economics coverage at BusinessWeek, writes or edits most of the magazine’s economics cover stories, and has a widely read blog, Economics Unbound.