The Economic System

The Economic System provides an accessible account of introductory economics theory that allows students more fully to appreciate the main features and complexity of the Economic System by integrating microeconomic and macroeconomic principles on a topic-by-topic basis. The purpose of the approach is to allow the student to understand the economy as a system of complex and inter-related features incorporating: consumers, producers, markets and governments based on an understanding of the roles of prices and markets and exchange. This structure provides a context whereby students understand that to analyse issues from an economic perspective often requires the use of both micro- and macroeconomic tools and an appreciation of the interrelationships that exist between them. An explicit aim in the book is to clarify how models and concepts in economics are useful as tools that support rigorous, methodical and logical analysis and not simply useful to solve mathematical "puzzles" by providing one "correct" answer. "As consumers, entrepreneurs, investors, savers, tax-payers, voters and workers, we are all affected by myriad economic decisions taken by other people. Our decisions also feed into this complex system and have an impact on others. Blending traditional methods of economic analysis with an innovative approach that integrates micro and macro elements across nine broad topic areas, Eleanor Doyle considers outcomes of the economic system as a whole, alongside the process of how economies and markets undergo change. The Economic System provides a toolbox for analysing, understanding and addressing the economic issues that we all face. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET