American economic system

This textbook was designed for the typical sophomore student. We be lieve the student's first, and often only, course in economics should be interesting and even exciting-and, above all, it should be meaningfully related to the world in which he will, before many years, become an active participant.

In our efforts to accomplish this objective in our text, we have subjected it to the most severe tests we could devise. In a preliminary form, it has been used by over three thousand students and twenty-five instructors, and critically examined by several competent economists. It has been revised and polished as a result of these experiences. Our final organization is not traditional and perhaps a few words of explanation are appropriate.

In the first place, we recognize that there is not enough time in the intro ductory course to permit a detailed study of all the aspects of economic life. In consequence, we must be selective or suffer the risk of not giving the student what he wants and should have-a mastery of the important ideas of economics. As a result, we have concentrated our attention on the main ideas in economics, leaving until later courses of study the details which so often stand in the way of student understanding. We have been concerned, for example, with the way the price mechanism allocates re sources and distributes income, leaving until later courses the detailed theory of the firm and a detailed discussion of the distribution of income among the factors of production. Similarly, we have discussed the role of government in the allocation of resources and in the maintenance of stability, leaving until later courses in public finance and fiscal policy the detailed discussion of specific taxes and expenditures.