This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the major ideas and issues in economics. It also discusses the competitive markets to get a flavour of the so-called free market view. The book explores the working of markets that are not competitive. It looks at the world of money and banks which are closely related with inflation. Ancient discourses on the economy and public administration date back to at least three thousand years. The subject of economics developed over the next few hundred years. Philosophers and scholars played a role in the development as we would surely expect. Germs of economic ideas had been developing since the sixteenth century but they remained nebulous until they had to face sterner questions raised by the Industrial Revolution. Economists of the market tradition believe that a market works like an automatic mechanism.