In the introduction, Wheelan sets forth his purpose for writing the book and the methods he uses. Too often college students are turned off by boring lectures in introductory economics classes and are all too happy to put the subject behind them after completing their mandatory requirements. Wheelan thinks this has unfortunate results. He thinks both politicians and many people writing in the media are uninformed about economics. He wants more people to see how interesting economics is and how much it influences the things we do. Wheelan makes the case that economics appeals to those at both ends of the political spectrum; markets are, of course, important but so are governments and the role they play. It’s not limited to money matters, either, as it can inform social policy in areas like discrimination.

Above all, economics has to do with human behavior and the choices people make. Wheelan admits that like any discipline, economics is evolving. For example, economists largely missed the signs pointing to the financial crisis of 2008, which led to the Great Recession. In part, this was because the classic assumptions regarding people’s behavior were shown to be flawed. Sometimes people act in ways that don’t appear to benefit them.