Bennett Pope, Introduction, Question 1

In the introduction to his book Naked Economics, Charles Wheelan strives to convince the reader that economics is a subject that is often ignored, but highly relevant to our lives. Wheelan uses several examples of financial disasters to show that the study of economics is mandatory if we are to prevent similar things from happening again. Economics on a small scale affects how we spend money each day, how we divide our budgets, and how we spend our time. On a grander scale, economics is interwoven with our jobs, investments, and standard of living. If we ignore economics, we will not be as aware of how to manage these aspects of our lives. This will affect us now, and the effects of our bad planning now will multiply exponentially in the future. As Wheelan says on page xxii, "Economics is like gravity: ignore it and you will be in for some rude surprises."