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Most of you do not want to spend a lot of time
learning new terms, memorizing formulas, or mastering details
that are important only to professional economists. What you want
are the insights of economics that really matter-those that will
help you make better personal choices and enhance your
understanding of our complex world. And you want those insights
to be presented in a concise, organized, and readable manner,
with a minimum of economics jargon.
This short book attempts to meet both of these objectives. We
think you can profit from this book regardless of your current
knowledge of economics. If you are a beginner, this book will
introduce you to a few basic economic principles that to a large
degree merely reflect common sense. These concepts, however, are
powerful tools. When making decisions, they will help you develop
your thoughts logically and view the central issues more clearly.
They will also enhance your ability to differentiate between
sound arguments and economic nonsense.
If you are a student of economics or business, this book will
help you pull together the "big picture." After 30 years of
teaching college economics, the authors are painfully aware of
two points: (1) students often miss important points because they
are busy with extraneous graphs, formulas, and mathematical
details and (2) they do not retain much of what is taught in
their college economics courses. The information encapsulated in
this book will challenge college students to think more seriously
about the really important implications of economics-knowledge
that will make a difference long after their final exam in
economics is a faded memory.
Finally, even if you are a business executive or a policymaker,
we believe you will find this book informative. However
experienced you may be in your particular area, you may not fully
appreciate how all the pieces of the economic puzzle fit
together. This is often the case with people in both business and
government. They know their job, but they have not thought very
seriously about how political rules and policies influence the
broader economic health of people and nations.
Studies indicate that we are a nation of economic illiterates. In
a democratic setting, the consequences of economic illiteracy can
be disastrous. People who do not understand the sources of
economic prosperity are susceptible to schemes that conflict with
the attainment of that prosperity. A nation of economic
illiterates is unlikely to remain prosperous for very long. The
basic principles explained in this book will help you better
understand what types of economic arrangements work and why some
nations prosper while others stagnate or even regress. As a
result, you will be able to make wiser choices and become a
better citizen.
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