ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the "building blocks" of any economy in order to understand how societies might be able to achieve the macroeconomic goals of good living standards, stability, and sustainability. It focuses on less developed countries, it would be necessary to pay a great deal more attention to the complicated reality of "informal" economic activity and perhaps to discuss it as a fourth sphere. The social context of economic activity includes politics, culture, ethics, and other human motivations, as well as institutions and history. This social context determines what constitutes acceptable economic activity. Businesses, households and communities, and public-purpose institutions are all involved in productive activities in the economy. Economies are, in turn, embedded in a context of larger social institutions and the natural environment markets for human organs or illicit drugs.
