• by Paul Heyne

Introductory Note

What is economics and what can you expect to learn from studying it? Those questions are harder to answer than you might suppose.

Dictionaries offer little help. The standard dictionary definition says that economics studies the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, which is clearly not the case. Economics does not tell farmers how to produce wheat or instruct railroad managers on how to distribute it or advise consumers on the contribution whole wheat bread makes to an adequate diet. Economics studies only very limited aspects of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth.