World of economics

Study after study documents the widespread economic illiteracy of the American public. This is no trivial problem in a democracy because, as the National Task Force on Economic Education has declared,

In the final analysis, the effectiveness of government depends on the capacity and understand ing of the people. For it is the people who, through their votes and other influences, determine within broad limits the scope and nature of government policies. If they are to exercise their great political power responsibly and effectively, more of our people must know more about our economy and must learn think about economic issues objectively and rationally,

Many high schools have become increasingly aware of this need and are now instituting courses or separate studies in economics at the twelfth grade level. This book and its accom panying learning and teaching aids are designed to make this effort as rewarding as possible to high-school students, whether they go on to take further work in college or not. Our aim has been to provide young people with the concepts and analytical tools they will need to understand the major economic problems they are likely to confront in their adult lives. We do not offer a simple and definite set of "answers" to these problems, but rather a way of thinking about them. This way of thinking, which should help each person make up his own mind in a clear, orderly, and constructive manner, is the essence of economics.

Economics is not an easy subject, but our experience with several different groups of high school students and teachers indicates that the amount of economics one needs to know to think through and understand the big economic issues of our day is not beyond the grasp of an average high-school senior. This is particularly so if the student's interest can be engaged and if the course is not cluttered up with overly elegant analytical refinements nor bogged down with descriptive trivia.