ABSTRACT

Economics is not always easy to get on with. It is not that the subject matter is dry, soulless and confusing – just that many textbooks seem to present it that way.

The reality is that people actually care passionately about economic issues. Too passionately: there have been more revolutions, killings and ‘disappearances’ caused by disputes over rival systems of economic organisation than due to disagreements of any other kind. Nonetheless, students do not usually turn to economics books for stimulating reading or to resolve problems in passionate debate.