Economics for Beginners

The For Beginners series is the place to start for curious minds who want to tackle life’s big ideas. It tackles the sorts of subjects that people can study in secondary school and university, that some educators think are too grown up or difficult to talk about with younger kids. We think they’re wrong! 

Nobody has everything they need, all the time – so how can we make do with what we have? Economics is all about understanding the choices we make to solve this problem. With bright, infographics pictures, this informative book describes why markets are so important, how businesses work out what to sell, and how governments choose how to run a country. Includes Usborne Quicklinks to specially selected websites for more information.

Contents:

What is economics?
What is an economy?
What do economists study?
How do you do economics?

Chapter 1: Not enough to go around
The things we need to survive, how we choose them, and why there's never enough time: the big reasons why economies exist.

Chapter 2: Markets
Buying and selling and how prices are set - as if by magic.

Chapter 3: Making choices
How do people make choices and why are those choices often unexpected? How can businesses and governments change people's choices? Why would they want to?

Chapter 4: Production, profit and competition
What big choices do businesses face? Why is competition so important? Why do some businesses produce pollution and what should we do about it?

Chapter 5: Economic systems
Is there a set of rules that would make it possible to share everything fairly? Or is it better to have winners and losers? What systems have people tried?

Chapter 6: Macroeconomics
What tools do governments use to measure the economy? What effects do their choices have on individual people and the economy as a whole?

Chapter 7: International trade
Why everyone from around the world benefits from buying and selling each other's products - and why governments sometimes don't like it.

Chapter 8: Big questions (and a few answers)
How the tools of economics help us make sense of everything, from war to famine to saving the planet.

What's next?

Glossary
Index
Acknowledgements