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Paul Heine economic way of thinking audiobook torrent. Economic way of thinking - Paul Heine

Paul Heine. Economic way of thinking

Preface to the Russian edition

With gratitude to my closest assistants Wally and Ruth

How do so many millions of people achieve the extraordinary coordination that characterizes modern industrial economies? How can they coordinate their efforts with the high degree of precision required to produce such large quantities of complex goods?

We don't ask these questions often enough. We take for granted the miracles of coherence and coordination in our society that enable us to satisfy our basic needs and enjoy luxuries. Therefore, we are not interested in how they arise, and we do not see that there is anything automatic or inevitable about it. Consistency on such a colossal scale can only be achieved if important prerequisites are in place. In our ignorance, we sometimes destroy these prerequisites or do not allow them to develop. And then we cannot understand why our economic system suddenly “collapsed.”

Economic theory is useful primarily because it is able to explain these processes of coordination in society and identify the prerequisites that allow them to develop successfully. In writing The Economic Way of Thinking, my main goal was to present a framework that will help people understand how and why consistency is achieved among millions of people, even strangers, and also why such consistency sometimes fails to achieve. If those who rule a society do not have such knowledge, the danger of chaos and disaster is great.

I would very much like to see the translation of The Economic Mindset into Russian to promote a better understanding of the institutions that ensure coherence in society, and thereby contribute to the achievement of prosperity, freedom and social harmony.

Paul Heine

Seattle, USA

Preface

Economic theory is not a set of ready-made recommendations applicable directly to economic policy. It is more a method than a teaching, an intellectual tool, a technique of thinking, helping those who master it to come to the right conclusions.

John Maynard Keynes

The introductory course in economic theory has not been difficult to teach for a long time. True, it is difficult to perceive, but that is another problem. The amount of effort required to master elementary courses has little to do with the effort required to teach them.

What do we need?

What is the purpose of an introductory course in economic theory? From what has been said above, it is easy to guess that I do not see much point in setting the usual educational goal: to familiarize students with the disparate elements of analysis techniques. And in fact, why do we want the beginning student to have an understanding of the concept of average variables, average total and marginal costs, to remember in which direction this or that line is inclined on the corresponding graphs, so that he knows about the obligatory intersection of the marginal and average curves costs at the minimum point of the latter, as well as everything else that is required to prove the equality of price to average total and marginal costs for all firms in the long run, under the condition of perfect competition and after capitalization of quasi-rent? Asking such a question means, in essence, answering it. There is no reasonable basis to believe that a beginning student is required to know all of the above. But then why do we continue to teach him this?

Part of the answer lies in our laudable desire to teach theory. It is theory that gives economics almost all its explanatory and predictive power. Without theory we would be forced to grope our way, blindly, through a tangle of economic problems, conflicting opinions and conflicting practical recommendations.

But introducing others to economic theory turns out to be extremely difficult. And many economics teachers, faced with the obvious failure of introductory general theoretical courses, often move on to teaching special and specific disciplines. In such classes, students usually read and discuss statements by trade union leaders, statements by representatives of industry and agriculture, politicians, domestic radicals or foreign socialists. They review data on income distribution, gross national product, employment, prices, and economic growth rates. Considers the case for income security and the case against planned obsolescence, the case for free enterprise and against unregulated competition, the case for nuclear power, and the case against uncontrolled economic growth. What will they learn in the end when the course is completed? They learn that there are many opinions, each based on facts, that "everything is relative," that every American is entitled to his own point of view, and that economics is not a science and is probably a waste of time.

The belief in the need to teach theory is justified to the extent that this implies that facts have no independent meaning outside of a theoretical context. Theory is essential here! But which one? Economic, of course - although in reality this is not the answer to the question. What type of economic theory? And in what sense? Before we can answer, we need to understand what we really need.

Concepts and Applications

I want beginning students to master some set of economic concepts that will help them think more clearly and coherently about a wide range of social problems. Economic principles of analysis make it possible to capture meaning in the discord that surrounds us. They clarify, systematize and correct what we learn every day from newspapers and hear from politicians. The scope of applicability of the tools of economic thinking is practically unlimited. Students should take away an understanding and appreciation of all this from the initial course.

Nothing, however, will work until we, teachers and textbook authors, manage to convince students. And in order to convince, it is necessary to clearly show. Therefore, an initial course in economic theory should be devoted to the study of analytical tools. Mastery of any concept must be combined with demonstration of its practical capabilities. Better yet, start with potential applications and then move on to tools. Pedagogical practice has already accumulated so much evidence in favor of this order of teaching that it is difficult to even understand how any other approach could ever compete with it.

"Here's the problem. You realize it's a problem. What can we say about it?" This is the first step.

"This is how economists think about the same problem. They use such and such a concept." This is the second step in which some elements of economic theory can be demonstrated.

Economic way of thinking Paul Heine

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Title: Economic way of thinking

About the book “The Economic Way of Thinking” by Paul Heine

Paul Heine is an American economist, professor at Seattle University and popularizer of economics. His book, The Economic Mindset, is an introductory course in economic analysis. In the USA, it was reprinted five times without losing its relevance. Currently, it is called one of the most understandable courses in economics.

In the preface to the book “The Economic Way of Thinking,” Paul Heine admits that his main goal was to present to a wide range of readers a conceptual apparatus that would help figure out whether the population of a country (mostly people unfamiliar with each other) can work in harmony or will not be able to agree. even in the simplest things. It would seem that this is a topic far from economics, relating, rather, to sociology and psychology, but Paul Heine traces everything back to economic theories.

"The Economic Way of Thinking" was designed as a textbook for students, so its author tried to explain some economic concepts that could help students think clearly and consistently. The author says that it is economic principles that can explain what ordinary people learn about every day from newspapers and hear from politicians. That is, by understanding economic principles, one can understand why certain events occur in the world. The scope of application of economic thinking is practically unlimited. Therefore, the more fully a young specialist masters these tools, the more competent he will be.

The book Economic Mindset offers the following metaphor: if your car is broken, a good mechanic can quickly find the problem and fix it.

This will not cause him any particular difficulty, because the mechanics are very familiar with the mechanism of the engine. Many people consider economic problems too complex to influence (and some do not even try to understand them) because they do not understand enough about the issue. The author tries to eliminate these gaps in knowledge and give everyone the keys to understanding global processes.

In his book, the economist deals with issues of demand, opportunity cost, costs, information, price, monopoly and many other phenomena in the economic sphere.

The book is written for a wide range of readers, so it will be of interest to all non-professionals, as well as those who have just begun to study economic theory.

On our website about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read online the book “The Economic Way of Thinking” by Paul Heine in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Paul Heyne (English: Paul T. Heyne; 1931 - March 9, 2000) - American economist. Received his master's degree from the University of Washington (Seattle); PhD from the University of Chicago. He taught at the universities of Valparaiso and (since 1976) Washington.

Heine's book The Economic Way of Thinking, published in 1991 by the Novosti publishing house, gained enormous popularity in Russia (more than 200 thousand copies were sold). In fact, this was the first textbook on modern economic theory translated into Russian. The book was reprinted 9 times in English during Heine's lifetime. The tenth edition was published after the death of the scientist, revised by Peter Boetke and David Prishitko.

Books (1)

Economic way of thinking

The book “The Economic Way of Thinking” by Seattle University (USA) professor Paul Heine is an introductory course in economic analysis. This book has gone through five editions in the United States and is currently one of the most popular economics courses.

The book is intended for a wide range of readers. It will be of interest not only to students and teachers of economic universities, but also to people’s deputies, co-operators, businessmen, and enterprise managers.

Reader comments

Lyudmila/ 10/1/2015 Marina, thank you very much for the library!) Maybe this is retrograde, but living books are closer to me, and their eyes are easier to read) And about the book: a good book - with love for the subject... and for the reader, the author really wants to "convey". 10 of 10.

marina/ 08/24/2015 I will give away a printed book as a gift. Pickup from Krylatskoe. mail [email protected]

Yves/ 04/10/2015 In my opinion, this is a good book, interesting and mostly understandable. It does not pay much attention to near-economic factors and their impact on the economy, and without this the consideration of economics is incomplete, but the book is still worth reading. Sometimes the text is not very clear, although the constructions are complex and, probably, not the best translation (but I didn’t read it here).

Vyacheslav/ 12/21/2009 Comrades, thank you very much for this book. I lost its printed version, purchased in 1993. Up to this point, I had managed to binge-read 10 of the 23 chapters. In my understanding, this book can be considered the most powerful anti-market propaganda, and written by a Western economist! The axioms of the “economic way of thinking” alone are worth it! 1) There is ALWAYS a choice! 2) Decisions are made only by individual INDIVIDUALS! 3) THE INDIVIDUAL chooses what will give him the MAXIMUM NET PROFIT (the remainder of the profit after deducting costs). In general, I immediately realized that all the abomination that the Government of I.O. brought upon the country. Prime Minister Gaidar Yegor Timurovich collapsed LEGALLY due to the completely unlimited rampant “economic way of thinking” among people empowered to make and implement decisions. I urge everyone to download and be sure to read this book carefully.

M.: Catallaxy, 1997. - 704 p.

The book “The Economic Way of Thinking” by Seattle University (USA) professor Paul Heine is an introductory course in economic analysis. This book has gone through five editions in the United States and is currently one of the most popular courses in economics.

The book is intended for a wide range of readers. It will be of interest not only to students and teachers of economic universities, but also to people’s deputies, co-operators, businessmen, and enterprise managers.

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CONTENT
Preface to the Russian edition
Preface
1. What do we need?
2. Concepts and their application
3. The benefits of restrictions
4. One semester or two?
5. Changes and gratitude
Chapter 1. Economic way of thinking
1. Recognizing order
2. The importance of public cooperation
3. How does this happen?
4. Smart tool
5. Cooperation through mutual adjustment
6. How much can economic theory explain?
7. Bias in economic theory
8. Rules of the game
9. Prejudices or conclusions?
10. No theory means bad theory
Chapter 2. Substitutes around us: the concept of demand
1. Costs and substitutes
2. Concept of demand
3. Misconceptions Caused by Inflation
4. Demand and quantity demanded
5. Let's plot this on a graph.
6. What is the difference?
7. Cash costs and other costs
8. Who needs water?
9. Time is on our side
10. Price elasticity of demand
11. Thinking about elasticity
12. Elasticity and total revenue
13. The myth of vertical demand
14. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 3. Opportunity cost and supply of goods
1. Costs are estimates.
2. Manufacturer costs as opportunity costs
3. Case studies of opportunity cost
4. Costs and activities
5. Costs of a mercenary army
6. Costs and property
7. A Note on Different Social Systems
8. Are prices determined by costs?
9. Demand and costs
10. Consumer price as opportunity cost
11. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 4. Supply and Demand: The Coordination Process
1. Distribution of orders and prizes
2. Coordinating role of prices
3. The desire to fix prices
4. What is the cause of shortages?
5. Rarity and competition
6. Competition with fixed prices
7. The role of the seller in distribution
8. Correct and incorrect signals
9. Is there a better system?
10. Inflation and rent control
11. Surplus and rarity
12. Suppliers who are indifferent to price
13. Your very own airport
14. Prices, committees and dictators
15. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 5: Marginal Costs, Sunk Costs, and Economic Decisions
1. Solutions based on limit values
2. “Sunk costs” don’t matter.
3. The story of the trip to Las Vegas
4. Marginal effects drive decisions.
5. Costs of driving a car
6. Who pays sunk costs?
7. Rising health care costs
8. Costs and insurance
9. Costs of hospital treatment
10. Costs as justification
11. Price, costs, and supplier response
12. One more note about alternative systems
13. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 6. Efficiency, exchange and comparative advantage
1. Technological efficiency?
2. Efficiency and ratings
3. The myth of material wealth
4. Trade creates wealth
5. Efficiency and cost of lost alternative
6. Efficiency and gains from trading
7. Comparative advantage in international trade
8. Striving for comparative advantage
9. Disagreement over values
10. Efficiency, value and ownership
11. Comparative Advantage: The Economist's Umbrella
12. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 7. Information, intermediaries and speculators
1. Realtors are producers of information.
2. Reducing search costs
3. Markets create information
4. Information and wealth
5. Types of speculation
6. Consequences of speculation
7. Decline of the "caveat emptor" doctrine
8. Doctors and lawsuits about improper treatment
9. Is it possible to provide complete information (full disclosure)?
10. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 8. Price setting and the problem of monopoly
1. Who can be called a monopolist?
2. Alternatives, elasticity and market power
3. Privileges and restrictions
4. Price takers and price seekers
5. Markets for price takers and “optimal” resource allocation (Resource Allocation)
6. Once again about the prices charged
7. Let's repeat briefly
8. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Chapter 9. Finding the Price
1. Common Theory of Price Setting
2. Meet Ed Syke
3. Basic rule of maximizing net revenue
4. The concept of marginal revenue
5. Why is marginal revenue less than price?
6. Setting marginal revenue equal to marginal cost
7. What about free seats?
8. Price discriminator dilemma
9. College sets prices
10. Some methods of price discrimination
11. Ed Syke finds a way out
12. Indignation and a reasonable explanation
13. Lunch price and dinner price
14. Once again about the theory of “costs plus premium”
15. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 10. Competition and public policy
1. Competitive pressure
2. Competition control
3. Duality of public policy
4. What should be included in costs?
5. Predators and competition
6. Antitrust policy
7. Interpretations and applications
8. Range of different opinions
9. On the way to grades
10. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 11. Profit
1. Profit as “total revenue minus total costs”
2. What should be included in costs?
3. Why is interest paid?
4. Risk factor in interest rates
5. Uncertainty as a source of profit
6. Striving for profit
7. Everyone does it
8. Profits and losses that fell from the sky
9. Property Rights: Introduction to the Concept
10. How should we view the fruits that “fell from heaven”?
11. Expectations and actions
12. Restrictions on competition
13. Competition on other fronts
14. Competition for a key resource
15. Competition and property rights
16. APPENDIX. Discounting and today's value
17. How much will today’s amount increase to?
18. Today's value of a future amount
19. Today's value of annual payments
20. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 12. Distribution of income
1. Sellers and buyers
2. Capital and human resources
3. Human capital and investment
4. Property rights and income
5. Real, legal and moral rights
6. Expectations and investments
7. Law of demand and productive services
8. People or machines?
9. Derived demand for productive resources
10. Demand creates income
11. Who competes with whom?
12. Trade unions and competition
13. Family income after the Second World War
14. Deceptive stability
15. On the redistribution of income
16. Rule change and public cooperation
17. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 13. Pollution and Conflict of Property Rights
1. Definition of pollution
2. Disagreements and property rights
3. Soot on windowsills
4. Oil on the beach
5. Airport noise analysis
6. Conflicting rights
7. Unattainable goal
8. Reducing Pollution: First Steps
9. Reduce pollution through negotiations
10. Reducing pollution through adjudication
11. The Case of the Complaining Homeowner
12. The importance of precedents
13. The problem of radical change
14. Reducing pollution through legislation
15. Physical restrictions on pollutants
16. Another approach: taxing emissions
17. The problem of fairness
18. Exchange and effectiveness of pollution control
19. Progress and regression in the activities of the EPA
20. Rights and effectiveness
21. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 14. Markets and the State
1. Private or public?
2. Competition and individualism
3. Economic theory and government action
4. The right to use coercion
5. Is the state necessary?
6. How to exclude defaulters
7. The Free-Rider Problem
8. Positive externalities and free riders
9. Transaction costs and coercion
10. Law and order
11. National defense
12. Roads and schools
13. Redistribution of income
14. Regulation of voluntary exchange
15. State and public interests
16. Information and democracies
17. Interests of elected officials
18. Positive externalities and public policy
19. How do people recognize public interests?
20. Let's repeat briefly
21. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Chapter 15. Inflation, recession, unemployment: introduction
1. Money prices in dollars and real values
2. Uncertainty about the future value of money
3. The real costs of inflation
4. Redistribution of wealth
5. Defense costs
6. Inflation and social conflicts
7. What happens during a recession?
8. When does unemployment become a problem?
9. Employed, unemployed and unemployed
10. Decisions made in the labor market
11. Unemployment rate and employment rate
12. The mystery of unemployment
13. Costs and decisions
14. Expectations and reality
15. Summary
16. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 16. Aggregate demand and aggregate supply
1. Gross national product
2. Limits of use of national accounts statistics
3. Nominal and real gross national product
4. GNP deflator
5. Recessions and inflation after 1950
6. Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand: Introductory Notes
7. Aggregate demand theory
8. Aggregate supply and aggregate demand - some doubts
9. Interdependence of aggregate supply and aggregate demand
10. Early proponents of the concept of aggregate supply
11. Where do we go next?
12. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 17. Money supply
1. Money as a unit of account
2. Money as a medium of exchange
3. Money as liquidity
4. How money creates wealth
5. Determination of the size of the money supply
6. Commercial bank lending and money creation
7. Central Bank
8. Bank reserves as a limiter on the creation of new money
9. Dissipation of excess reserves
10. Tools used by the Fed
11. Who really makes the decisions?
12. Why should banks hold reserves?
13. What about gold?
14. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 18. The theory of aggregate demand: monetarist and Keynesian approaches
1. Monetarist approach: demand for money
2. Differences between stocks and flows
3. Why are cash reserves needed?
4. Actual and desired cash holdings
5. Why the demand for money can change
6. How stable is the demand for money?
7. Great Depression
8. Keynes and the "General Theory"
9. Order and disorder in economic systems
10. Source of instability: investment
11. Are the oscillations damped?
12. Keynes' Doubts
13. Savings and economic growth
14. Demand side and supply side
15. Once again the problem of coordination
16. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 19. Fiscal and monetary policy
1. Regulation of aggregate demand
2. How to finance a deficit
3. Scarcity and the “crowding out” effect
4. Relationship between fiscal and monetary policy
5. The need to choose the right time
6. Federal budget as a policy instrument
7. Stabilization or stimulation?
8. Automatic fiscal policy
9. Timing of monetary policy
10. Controversy over monetary policy
11. Nominal and real interest rates
12. Public opinion and interest rates
13. Should I have tried?
14. Stabilizing factors
15. Destabilizing factors
16. Advantages and disadvantages of theories built on aggregate indicators
17. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 20. View from the supply side
1. The theory of aggregate supply in various forms
2. Popularity of direct control methods
3. Cost-push inflation? OPEC example
4. Supply shock and demand response
5. Market power, unemployment and inflation
6. Control over supply
7. Expectations and offer
8. Phillips Curve: Use and Abuse
9. Reducing unemployment through illusions
10. Offer incentives
11. Digression on the topic of public debt
12. The problem of repression
13. Does raising tax rates solve or complicate the problem?
14. Other difficulties
15. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 21. Public Policy and International Exchange
1. How international transactions are recorded
2. Why do incomes always equal expenses?
3. Foreign investment in the USA
4. What does imbalance in the balance of payments mean?
5. Vain searches
6. Exchange rates and purchasing power parity
7. Expectations and exchange rates
8. The ups and downs of the dollar
9. Bretton Woods system
10. Unplanned consequences
11. Fixed or floating exchange rates?
12. Private interests, national interests, public interests
13. Attacks on the principle of comparative advantage
14. Interests of producers and national interests
15. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 22. Inflation, recessions and political economy
1. Political situation
2. Time horizon. What comes first and what comes next?
3. Destabilizing stabilization policy
4. Limitless deficits
5. Political economy of monetary policy
6. Decisions or rules
7. Who is in control?
8. Let's repeat briefly
Chapter 23. Borders of economic science
1. What do economists know?
2. Beyond economics

Paul Heine

ECONOMIC WAY OF THINKING

Paul Heyne

The Economic Way of Thinking

Publisher: Catallaxy News

1997

The book "The Economic Way of Thinking" by Seattle University (USA) professor Paul Heine is an introductory course in economic analysis. This book has gone through five editions in the United States and is currently one of the most popular economics courses.

Preface to the Russian edition

With gratitude to my closest assistants Wally and Ruth

How do so many millions of people achieve the extraordinary coordination that characterizes modern industrial economies? How can they coordinate their efforts with the high degree of precision required to produce such large quantities of complex goods?

We don't ask these questions often enough. We take for granted the miracles of coherence and coordination in our society that enable us to satisfy our basic needs and enjoy luxuries. Therefore, we are not interested in how they arise, and we do not see that there is anything automatic or inevitable about it. Consistency on such a colossal scale can only be achieved if important prerequisites are in place. In our ignorance, we sometimes destroy these prerequisites or do not allow them to develop. And then we cannot understand why our economic system suddenly “collapsed.”

Economic theory is useful primarily because it is able to explain these processes of coordination in society and identify the prerequisites that allow them to develop successfully. In writing The Economic Way of Thinking, my main goal was to present a framework that will help people understand how and why consistency is achieved among millions of people, even strangers, and also why such consistency sometimes fails to achieve. If those who rule a society do not have such knowledge, the danger of chaos and disaster is great.

I would very much like to see the translation of The Economic Mindset into Russian to promote a better understanding of the institutions that ensure coherence in society, and thereby contribute to the achievement of prosperity, freedom and social harmony.

Paul Heine

Seattle, USA

Preface

Economic theory is not a set of ready-made recommendations applicable directly to economic policy. It is more a method than a teaching, an intellectual tool, a technique of thinking, helping those who master it to come to the right conclusions. John Maynard Keynes An introductory course in economic theory has not been difficult to teach for a long time. True, it is difficult to perceive, but that is another problem. The amount of effort required to master elementary courses has little to do with the effort required to teach them.

What do we need?

What is the purpose of an introductory course in economic theory? From what has been said above, it is easy to guess that I do not see much point in setting the usual educational goal: to familiarize students with the disparate elements of analysis techniques. And in fact, why do we want the beginning student to have an understanding of the concept of average variables, average total and marginal costs, to remember in which direction this or that line is inclined on the corresponding graphs, so that he knows about the obligatory intersection of the marginal and average curves costs at the minimum point of the latter, as well as everything else that is required to prove the equality of price to average total and marginal costs for all firms in the long run, under the condition of perfect competition and after capitalization of quasi-rent? Asking such a question means, in essence, answering it. There is no reasonable basis to believe that a beginning student is required to know all of the above. But then why do we continue to teach him this?

Part of the answer lies in our laudable desire to teach theory. It is theory that gives economics almost all its explanatory and predictive power. Without theory we would be forced to grope our way, blindly, through a tangle of economic problems, conflicting opinions and conflicting practical recommendations.

But introducing others to economic theory turns out to be extremely difficult. And many economics teachers, faced with the obvious failure of introductory general theoretical courses, often move on to teaching special and specific disciplines. In such classes, students usually read and discuss statements by trade union leaders, statements by representatives of industry and agriculture, politicians, domestic radicals or foreign socialists. They review data on income distribution, gross national product, employment, prices, and economic growth rates. Considers the case for income security and the case against planned obsolescence, the case for free enterprise and against unregulated competition, the case for nuclear power, and the case against uncontrolled economic growth. What will they learn in the end when the course is completed? They learn that there are many opinions, each based on facts, that "everything is relative," that every American is entitled to his own point of view, and that economics is not a science and is probably a waste of time.

The belief in the need to teach theory is justified to the extent that this implies that facts have no independent meaning outside of a theoretical context. Theory is essential here! But which one? Economic, of course - although in reality this is not the answer to the question. What type of economic theory? And in what sense? Before we can answer, we need to understand what we really need.

Concepts and Applications

I want beginning students to master some set of economic concepts that will help them think more clearly and coherently about a wide range of social problems. Economic principles of analysis make it possible to capture meaning in the discord that surrounds us. They clarify, systematize and correct what we learn every day from newspapers and hear from politicians. The scope of applicability of the tools of economic thinking is practically unlimited. Students should take away an understanding and appreciation of all this from the initial course.

Nothing, however, will work until we, teachers and textbook authors, manage to convince students. And in order to convince, it is necessary to clearly show. Therefore, an introductory course in economic theory should be devoted to the study of the tools of analysis. Mastery of any concept must be combined with demonstration of its practical capabilities. Better yet, start with potential applications and then move on to tools. Pedagogical practice has already accumulated so much evidence in favor of this order of teaching that it is difficult to even understand how any other approach could ever compete with it.

"Here's the problem. You realize it's a problem. What can we say about it?" This is the first step.

"This is how economists think about the same problem. They use such and such a concept." This is the second step in which some elements of economic theory can be demonstrated.

Once the applicability of these elements to the original problem has been shown and some implications have been explored, the same concept must be used to solve other additional problems. This is the third step.

Of course, everything is not so simple, and the matter does not come down to a three-stage division. Teaching the basics of economic theory, along with knowledge of the formal techniques of analysis, also requires imagination, insight, knowledge of current events, and a sense of perspective. The combination of these qualities is not common. In addition, teachers themselves must believe that knowledge of economic theory will be useful not only for solving artificially invented problems or successfully passing equally artificial exams, but also for something more.

The benefits of restrictions

No one will probably argue with what has been said above. But if this is so, then we must admit that our pedagogical practice does not greatly correspond to our views on it. One reason, undoubtedly, is that at all stages...