Reasonably Simple Economics: Why the World Works the Way It Does

Introduction

The Value of Economics in Daily Life

You may be reading this because you have enrolled in an economic principles class, or you may be simply curious about basic economics. In buying it, you probably thought you were signing up for a discussion of inflation, unemployment, interest rates, whether the standard of living is going up or down, outsourcing, the gyrations of the stock market, and other topics that seem somehow to be related to “economics” and often find their way into the news.

All in good time. But before gaining any further understanding on these matters, we have to start from the foundation of the economic way of thinking. ...