ECONOMICS.

By Bernt P. Stigum '56 andMarcia L. Stigum. Reading, Mass.: Addison-WesleyPublishing Co., 1968. 793pp. $9.75.

Bernt and Marcia Stigum have written a fine textbook. Any student who works his way through it will have received a sound introduction to economics. This is true even if he skips the appendices and the optional chapters on such relatively esoteric subjects as investment under uncertainty, input-output analysis, and non-bank intermediaries. These topics are hardly mentioned in the great majority of elementary economics textbooks.

What is particularly appealing to me about this book is its sophisticated, theoretical approach. The Stigums begin with basic assumptions and move with relentless logic towards their conclusion. This, it should be emphasized, distinguishes the book from most texts. The other books almost always try to convince the student of conclusions without forcing him to start from first principles. Rather they tend to rely on appeals to what is "reasonable" and what accords with the student's general experience and impressions.

Unfortunately, because of its no-nonsense approach and its both comprehensive and thorough coverage, the Stigum book places a burden on the reader far greater than most college students can bear. Even though those sections that explicitly require a knowledge of calculus have been put into appendices, the book requires a considerable mathematical, or analytical, ability on the part of the student. Certainly, if I were to use this book in Economics I at Dartmouth, I would limit my class to unusually intelligent students with at least some college math and a strong interest in economics. Conversely, if I had such a group of students I would certainly want to use this text. Perhaps the ideal group of students for it would be upperclassmen at MIT and Cal. Tech.

Although it pains me to say so, I am afraid that this fine book is too analytical and sophisticated for all but a small percentage of American college students. Since the book would serve the needs of these select students so well, however, I certainly hope that it will be used where the students do measure up.

Mr. Sandberg is Associate Professor of Economic at Dartmouth.