An Economics Primer for International Students

The aim is to introduce the essentials of economics, beginning, in Reading 1, with the ideas of resources, scarcity, and choice, both individual and social. The operation of markets is discussed in Reading 2, including the description of the perfect market, leading to a definition of economic efficiency, which informs many policy and investment decisions across the world. Reading 3 explains the operation of Demand and Supply analysis, and the sources of market failure are presented in Reading 4. The need for objectivity is emphasized; economics is the art of making judgements using evidence and logic. The origins and the resolution of the climate change crisis are examined in Reading 5, where re-orientating academic research is considered as the essential problem we have to solve. The Appendix provides answers to the questions provided in the Readings, and provides a Bibliography in support of Reading 5.