ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines more realistic micro-foundations for analyzing a wide array of public policy questions. It focuses on one set of alternative and more realistic behavioral assumptions that yield analytical predictions that are more in tune with the stylized facts of economic life and that recommend public policy and private choices that often stand in stark contrast with what flows from the neoclassical worldview. The book also focuses on economic theory grounded and infused by real economic issues and problems and with a steadfast concern for the realism of the assumptions underlying the economic theory. It explores that individuals can make choices that determine the level of material well-being in society and that such choices are not completely constrained even under conditions of perfect product market competition.
