Economic Naturalism: Bob Frank encourages students to become "Economic Naturalists" to use economic principles to explain everyday details of ordinary existence. Throughout the text, Economic Naturalist examples help develop economic intuition and demonstrate the relevance of economics. The Economic Naturalist tackles such questions as:

Why has the demand for luxury grills grown so rapidly in recent years?
Why do doctors and lawyers often offer discounts to people with low incomes?
Why might a firm build a bigger factory than it would ever need?
Why is it so hard to find a taxi on rainy days?

Business Examples: In order to make Microeconomics and Behavior even more relevant for business majors, the text contains examples related to business issues. Examples show how basic microeconomic principles can help answer such questions as:

Why do builders use prefabricated frames for roofs but not for walls?
Why do color photographs cost less than black-and-white ones?
Why do theater owners offer students discounts on admission tickets but not on popcorn?

Focus on Problem Solving: Microeconomics and Behavior prepares students for its end of chapter problems by taking them through a sequence of carefully crafted examples and exercises within each chapter.

Optimal Topic Coverage: More attention is given to the development of the rational choice model as the building block for what comes later in the course. Additional coverage has been given to the concept of elasticity and its applications in demand theory, and for the average-marginal distinction in production theory. Behavioral economics is integrated thoughtfully to help students gain a deeper understanding of how cognitive limitations affect consumer behavior.

A Broader Conception of Self-Interest: Microeconomics and Behavior freely concedes the importance of the self-interest motive in many contexts; while at the same time highlights the role of unselfish motives in social and economic transactions.

Useful Appendices and Optional Calculus Coverage: Coverage in the Appendices includes the utility function approach to the consumer budgeting problem, additional topics in demand theory, additional applications of rational choice theory, search theory, production theory, cost theory, additional models of monopolistic competition, and a more detailed look at exhaustible resource allocation. The inclusion of this material offers instructors unmatched latitude in their choice of technical level and topic coverage. Those who desire to teach a calculus-based course will find comprehensive coverage of optimization theory in the appendices to Chapters 3, 8, and 9. Starred problems that require calculus are included in the end-of-chapter problem sets.