Invitation to Economics: Understanding Argument and Policy

Our media is filled with stories of economics and policymaking. This book helps you to keep your head above water in this sea of information by empowering you to spot naive and spurious economic arguments. In short, this book will help you become a critical consumer of economic arguments. Accordingly, the book provides many examples of these arguments, and explains why they are wrong.

It is not, however, just an exercise in negation; it does present some economic theory, though not in a formal and rigorous way. Instead of stressing a well-explicated theory, it inculcates an intuitive ‘feel’ for economics, which economics courses often overlook due to their strong emphasis on the technical apparatus of economics. Even those who have taken some economics courses, therefore, will still find much to learn from this book.