Agenda Publishing Everyday Economics: A User's Guide to the Modern Economy

Most economics is a top-down analysis that simplifies and reduces the huge varieties between individuals to a predictable range of characteristics that lend themselves to systematic analysis. This book eschews this conventional perspective, which sees national economies as simply agglomerations of the activities of millions of people, and instead explores the role played by the individual in the economy, in particular, how the individual experiences the economy. In so doing, the book is able to illuminate the economic landscape for the non-technical reader in a much more engaging and accessible way. Some of the questions explored are: Why should I go to university? What determines the kinds of jobs available to me, and at what salary? And why are some jobs better than others? Who should pay for my healthcare? Do banks encourage me to live beyond my means? What determines the supply of housing and whether I can buy a house, or rent? Do my shopping habits drive the economy? How does the provision of welfare change my behaviour? By placing the individual front and centre in its analysis, the book is able to demonstrate how the things we experience, need and consume fit into the fast-changing and interdependent global economic setting and how the role of government, markets and welfare shapes our lives. Contents 1. Economics; what is it good for? 2. Knowledge is power: education and training 3. Let's get busy: work and occupations 4. Get well soon: health and healthcare 5. Making the world go around: money and personal finance 6. Home sweet home: the housing market 7. Shop 'til you drop: shopping and consumption 8. From cradle to grave: benefits and welfare