Economy, society and public policy

Economy, Society, and Public Policy To be run well, a democracy needs voters who are familiar with the language of economics and able to quantitatively analyze social and economic policies. We also need highly trained cadres of researchers and journalists with advanced skills in these fields. Many students in other majors are drawn to economics because they want to participate in policy debates related to environmental sustainability, inequality, the future of work, financial instability, and innovation. However, when they begin to study economics, they find that the courses seem largely unrelated to these pressing political issues, and that they are designed primarily for students who want to study this discipline as a major, or even for students who intend to continue their graduate studies in this field. The result: students interested in politics often find themselves forced to choose between a quantitative and analytical course of study—economics—that is little politically oriented in content and downplays the insights of other disciplines, or a policy-oriented, problem-solving course of study that provides them with little training in modeling or quantitative scientific methods. Economy, society and public policy are changing this situation. This program is designed specifically for students of social sciences, public policy, business administration, engineering, biology, and other majors who are not studying economics. If you are one of these students, we want to engage you, motivate you and provide you with a deeper understanding of economics. We hope you will gain the tools to express reasoned opinions about pressing political problems. This may prompt you to study more economics courses. The book is also successfully used in courses for economics, business, and public policy, as well as in economics modules for philosophy, politics, and economics, and master's courses in public policy. This book is the result of a global collaboration between researchers, teachers, and students committed to disseminating socially relevant economics insights to a broader audience. We make it freely available online in the belief that this understanding helps everyone – not just experts – participate in shaping our economies, and helps foster evidence-based policy understanding. We are grateful for the contributions of this entire team, and to the Nuffield Foundation for its financial support of the project.