Steven E. Rhoads is professor emeritus in politics at the University of Virginia. He received his AB in history from Princeton University in 1961. Steve then spent time in the US Navy, and at the US Bureau of the Budget as the Secretary of the Director's Review. At Cornell University he studied economics, American politics and the history of political philosophy, receiving the PhD in government in 1973. Steve and his wife Peggy live just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

'This is a 35th anniversary version of a classic. Rhoads, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of Virginia, has built upon the best explanation I know of how orthodox economists think about choice, markets, externalities and other concepts. The new edition will be valuable to non-economists and economists alike: the former will learn how economists think; and the latter will learn some of the limits to how they think.' Martin Wolf, A Financial Times Book of the Year

• Introduction; Part I. Useful Concepts: 1. Opportunity Cost; 2. Marginalism; 3. Economic Incentives; Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity: 4. Government and the Economy; 5. Economists and Equity; 6. Externalities and the Government Agenda; Part III. The Limits of Economics: 7. The Economist's Consumer and Individual Well-Being; 8. Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership; 9. Conclusion.

Steven E. Rhoads is professor emeritus in politics at the University of Virginia. He received his AB in history from Princeton University in 1961. Steve then spent time in the US Navy, and at the US Bureau of the Budget as the Secretary of the Director's Review. At Cornell University he studied economics, American politics and the history of political philosophy, receiving the PhD in government in 1973. Steve and his wife Peggy live just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

'This is a 35th anniversary version of a classic. Rhoads, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of Virginia, has built upon the best explanation I know of how orthodox economists think about choice, markets, externalities and other concepts. The new edition will be valuable to non-economists and economists alike: the former will learn how economists think; and the latter will learn some of the limits to how they think.' Martin Wolf, A Financial Times Book of the Year

• Introduction; Part I. Useful Concepts: 1. Opportunity Cost; 2. Marginalism; 3. Economic Incentives; Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity: 4. Government and the Economy; 5. Economists and Equity; 6. Externalities and the Government Agenda; Part III. The Limits of Economics: 7. The Economist's Consumer and Individual Well-Being; 8. Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership; 9. Conclusion.

Steven E. Rhoads is professor emeritus in politics at the University of Virginia. He received his AB in history from Princeton University in 1961. Steve then spent time in the US Navy, and at the US Bureau of the Budget as the Secretary of the Director's Review. At Cornell University he studied economics, American politics and the history of political philosophy, receiving the PhD in government in 1973. Steve and his wife Peggy live just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

'This is a 35th anniversary version of a classic. Rhoads, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of Virginia, has built upon the best explanation I know of how orthodox economists think about choice, markets, externalities and other concepts. The new edition will be valuable to non-economists and economists alike: the former will learn how economists think; and the latter will learn some of the limits to how they think.' Martin Wolf, A Financial Times Book of the Year

• Introduction; Part I. Useful Concepts: 1. Opportunity Cost; 2. Marginalism; 3. Economic Incentives; Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity: 4. Government and the Economy; 5. Economists and Equity; 6. Externalities and the Government Agenda; Part III. The Limits of Economics: 7. The Economist's Consumer and Individual Well-Being; 8. Representatives, Deliberation, and Political Leadership; 9. Conclusion.