This text is intended for a non-technical, issues-oriented economics course, usually a 100-level course in four-year universities. It is often a general education course. The book is also appropriate for two-year colleges and other institutions, as well as economic education programs for secondary teachers. Chapters are designed so that they can be taught in any order after Chapter One. Each chapter includes references to other chapters that mention similar topics.

In this book, economic theory is used to analyze social and economic issues and the implications of potential policies. The level of technicality is deliberately appropriate for an economic issues course with no prerequisites, unlike other issues texts that attempt to incorporate all relevant principles and theory into pages better focased on the issues themselves. The text is written in a clear and student-friendly manner. Graphs are clear and normally illustrate only one concept per graph. Except for the appendices, there are only two basic types of graphs used in the text: production possibilities and demand and supply (and aggregate demand and supply). Every effort has been made to place the graph and the discussion of the graph on the same or adiacent pages. More technical material and additional examples are frequently placed in appendices.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Crime and Drugs
Chapter 3 The Environment
Chapter 4 Education
Chapter 5 Discrimination
Chapter 6 U.S. Poverty
Chapter 7 World Poverty
Chapter 8 Market Power
Chapter 9 International Trade
Chapter 10 Housing
,etc.