Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

The Third Edition expands on the earlier editions in two ways. First, the existing coverage has been rewritten and rearranged. Second, new chapters have been added on game theory, oligopoly, asset markets, and information economics. The rearrangement follows the model of Hal Varian's Intermediate Microeconomics: a number of short chapters, each devoted to a single topic. In fact, the topical division is as close as possible to that of the undergraduate text. This makes it easy to review undergraduate material before moving on to graduate material. The new chapters highlight significant developments in microeconomic theory in the last ten years at a level that is accessible for first-year graduate students.

Classic features:
* Emphasis on the dual approach to consumer and firm behavior.
* Integration of the modem analytic approach with classical price theory
* Analysis of economic behavior using classical methods of comparative statics, duality, and nonparametric methods.
* Emphasis on analytical techniques that are useful in applied research.

Highlights of the revision:
* New chapter on game theory that provides an appropriate introduction for first-year students.
* New chapter on oligopoly that features many of the recent developments in this area.
* New chapter on asset markets that describes "what every economist should know" about the theory of financial markets.
* New chapter on information economics that provides a unified treatment of incentives and markets in the presence of information asymmetries.

Average Customer Rating:

A well presented text of microeconomic analysis for graduate level studies.

Customer Rating:

Hal Varian's MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS is a widely used textbook for graduate studies in economics. I recall it being the standard reference guide for my first year microeconomic classes in graduate school. The chapters are presented clearly and coherently for the reader to follow and to comprehend without missing the key concepts. The book emphasizes quantitative analysis and assumes that the student using the text has a sufficient background in quantitative methods to be able to understand the applications of microeconomic theory. Without having this background, one would probably be at a disadvantage in trying to decipher the material presented in each chapter. Varian's approach is reader friendly and makes numerous references to the the continuously dynamic world of economics. The math applications are quite practical and provide for a useful learning tool to understand the quantitative aspects of microeconomic theory. It is not surprising that the most of the top graduate economic programs require this text for their first year graduate microeconomic classes. This book is a valuable foundation for more advanced graduate economic training, where both quantitative analysis and critical thinking are necessary to formulate viable research projects and to write substantive policy analyses.

Varian Textbook	Customer Rating:
Great book if you want to learn Micro. Don't expect any pretty pictures or intersting inserts, though.

Good for the basics

Customer Rating:

I have read three graduate level Microeconomic Thoery texts: Mas-Colell, et al. Microeconomic Theory, Varian's Microeconomic Analysis, and Krep's A Course in Microeconomic Theory. Mas-Colell is generally the most detailed, inclusive book that must be on the shelf of any serious economist. It has its weak points; however, it is the best that there is for learning the microeconomic theory. Note that this book is generally the text of choice for the first year of graduate study at most all of the top econ programs. The math requirements for getting the most out of this book are fairly heavy. With out a good math for economists course, this book is very difficult to use. Kreps book takes on more of the game theory approach. This is very interesting for the game/decision theorist, and is a highly recommended in addition to Mas-Colell for those with these interests. Varian is often used in masters degree level graduate programs, non-econ graduate programs, and lower-level econ phd programs. It is not as intense as Mas-Colell. However, it is often very helpful in its own right. For students who are using Mas-Colell in their courses, but are struggling to grasp all of the concepts, Varian presents the information in a more "user-friendly" way. He spends more time explaining the concepts using english rather than math, which can be very helpful to someone just starting out. At Cornell, Varian was helpful during the first semester of my microeconomic theory course, but provided virtually no help after that. Additionally, I found the practice problems and examples in Varian very helpful when studying for exams. In summary, all serious economists usually have Mas-Colell. Other than that, choose your additional books based on your needs and interests.

Not good if MWG is your main text	Customer Rating:
My graduate micro text was Mas-Colell,Whinston, and Green, and I bought Varian hoping it would help fill in some of the gaps since micro wasn't my thing. But Varian didn't help me at all. It explained the very basic content, but those aren't too bad to get from MWG. As for anything not surface level, it didn't help at all. If you're looking for help with MWG, try Kreps or Sundaram.

A Scary Book

Customer Rating:

Varian did well at his Intermediate Microeconomic Theory book but the Microeconomic Analysis is really a scaring product.I have studied Mathematical Economics by Alpha C. Chiang and also Vairan's Intermediate Micoeconomics but still I am not able to understand This book. I wish varian could be a little sympathetic towards a great number of readers like me who are not mathematics nerds and add some more pages to the book so that he does not have to consistently skip steps ( sometimes 3 steps in a go)while explaining the theory mathematically. In short there is a complete book missing between Varian's Intermediate and Analysis books. Hope Varian reads my comments and produces an in between book for me and a lot of my weeping class fellows.