The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World, Revised and Updated

Foreword

It was as a 15-year-old at school in England that I was formally introduced to the subject of economics. And I immediately fell in love with it. Here was a subject that provided me with valuable tools to think about a range of everyday topics, to formulate answers from first principles, and to pose additional interesting questions whose answers I was also eager to know.

My love affair with economics has blossomed and continues today. And I feel privileged as economics seems to be even more relevant and topical as time passes. It facilitates our understanding of the well-being of societies, and the challenges they face; it explains many of the daily interactions between individuals, companies, and governments; and it offers a guide to understanding political and social trends that are shaping our world.

Simply put, economics is the key to understanding and analyzing both what is likely to happen and what should happen. Yet, as a topic, it is also horribly misunderstood and often overlooked.

Many believe that economics is too complex, too mathematical, and too arcane for them. Others question the benefits of investing their time and effort to get to know a subject that is the source of endless jokes, including presidential ones. (For example, President Harry S. Truman is said to have famously asked for a one-handed economist, noting that “all my economists say, on the one hand and on the other.”)

Why am I telling you all this? Because I have come across a book that makes ...