As the text's engaging cover illustrates, economics is an adventure - an exploration of the economic concepts and issues that confront us in the news and in our daily lives. We invite you to travel with us in exploring the economic landscape of the world around you. Whether your major is business, psychology, English, education, engineering, or whether you're going on in economics, you will be faced with economic choices and issues. You will be asked to consider fundamental questions like:

What are the benefits of trade? (Chapter 1)
What causes price to change? (Chapter 1)
Do rent controls and minimum wages benefit me? (Chapter 2)
Why have healthcare costs risen so much? (Chapter 3)
How do firms create profits? (Chapter 6)
How is poverty measured? (Chapter 8)
How does the international sector affect the economy? (Chapter 9)
How is money traded internationally? (Chapter 10)
What is inflation? (Chapter 11)
What are the effects of budget deficits? (Chapter 13)
How do banks create money? (Chapter 14)
How is monetary policy set? (Chapter 15)
Why do countries restrict international trade? (Chapter 17)

To help you understand these and other issues, we've tried to boil down economics to its fundamentals -- the basic core concepts. And rather than focusing on formal economic theories, we have chosen to emphasize relevant applications and policy issues, the same issues you read about in today's newspaper headlines.

Our Goals in Writing the Text

The book is intended for a one-term course in economics, a course that covers the fundamentals of micro and macroeconomics. The text was written with several objectives in mind. First, our goal is to demonstrate how valuableeconomic analysis is, how it helps explain daily events, and how it can help us understand why individuals, business firms, and even governments behave as they do. To accomplish this we try to relate each concept to the individual. For example, we show what diminishing marginal returns means to you and how money supply growth affects your paycheck. We believe that using real-world examples as illustrations of economic concepts is a more effective learning approach than relying on examples of hypothetical products, firms, and people.

Second, our goal is to present the world as you see it -- a global economic environment -- and to present the tools needed to understand and live in this world. While other texts ignore or isolate international coverage, we fully integrate a global perspective within our discussion of the traditional, fundamentals of economics. Topics such as the Asian monetary crisis of 1998, the rising value of the dollar, the effect of an exchange rate on firms, prices, and employees, are all discussed within the context of economic analysis.

A third goal is to make the book interesting and useful. We want our readers to learn the fundamentals and to develop an economic way of thinking about issues that confront them. We strive to present only the essential topics rather than force readers to delve into abstract topics such that they become lost in the "forest" and lose sight of the "trees." Finally, we want our readers to discover that economics is an adventure. It's fun, enlightening, interesting, and useful.

A Focus on Fundamental Questions

Earlier, we introduced some of the fundamental questions considered in the text. These and other questions provide the organizing framework for the text and it accompanying ancillary package, as shown on the diagram in the inside covers of the text. The Fundamental Questions, in fact, open and organize each chapter, highlighting the critical issues. Students should preview the chapters with these questions in mind, reading actively for understanding and retention. The Fundamental Questions also appear in the margins next to the discussion where the question is fully addressed; they also frame the chapter summaries, thereby serving as a valuable review device. Finally, the Fundamental Questions are used as the integrating framework for the text and the entire ancillary package. For example, brief paragraph answers to each of the questions are found in the Study Guide, available with the text.

An Integration of International Issues

As previously noted, the text incorporates a global perspective. In addition to the full international chapter (Chapter 17, Issues in International Trade and Finance), every chapter incorporates global examples to provide a more realistic picture of the economy. Topics include:

• The effects of exchange rates on the demand and supply of individual markets (Chapter 2)
• The issue of price discrimination on an international basis (Chapter 4)
• Comparative analysis of fiscal policies in different countries (Chapter 13)
• "Global Money" and international reserve currencies, as well as the prohibition of interest in Islamic banks (Chapter 14)
• Foreign exchange market intervention as part of the central bank policy (Chapter 15)
• Business cycles and economic growth issues as important macroeconomic policy issues (Chapter 16)

A Real-World Framework

In the micro section of the text, we've developed a real-world framework that shows how markets work, focusing on competition and the behavior of firms. Students learn how businesses behave, compete, create profit, and attempt to sustain profits over time - instead of becoming bogged down in a theoretical discussion of each market structure model. They learn what competition means for them - how it affects their everyday lives.

To further connect the text to the real world, we've incorporated "Economic Insight" boxes containing current news articles. They focus on the policies of today's world leaders and the business decisions of real companies and governments from around the world. The goal is to help students think critically about news stories and to respond to them with greater insight. Some examples are:

• Economic Insight: The Disappearing Bikes (The Yellow Bike Program in Portland, Oregon)
• Economic Insight: The American Girls Phenomenon (An historical doll collection from the Pleasant Company, an example of the market process)
• Economic Insight: Does the Minimum Wage Really Cause Unemployment Among Teens?
• Economic Insight: The Taxpayer's Federal Government Credit Card Statement

Proven, Pedagogical Features

The text incorporates a number of pedagogical features that proved to be successful in our best-selling principles of economics text. This series of built-in learning aids makes teaching easier by enhancing student learning.

In-text Referencing System. Sections are numbered for easy reference and to reinforce hierarchies of ideas. The numbering system serves as an outline of the chapter, allowing instructors flexibility in assigning reading, and making review easy for students. The key term list and summary at the end of the chapter refer students back to the appropriate section's number. The section numbering system is used throughout the ancillary package; the Test Bank, Study Guide, Website, and Instructor's Resource Manual are organized according to the same system.

Fundamental Questions. Fully described earlier and on the text's inside covers, these questions provide an organizing framework for the text and ancillary package.

Recaps. Briefly listing the main points covered, a recap appears at the end of each major section within a chapter. Students are able to quickly review what they have just read before going on to the next section.

Summary. The summary at the end of each chapter is organized according to the list of Fundamental Questions and includes a brief synopsis of the discussion that helps students to answer those questions. Students may refer back to the full text discussion, using the section numbering system.

Key Terms. A list of important terms is provided at the end of each chapter and keyed to chapter sections, using the section numbering system, described above.

Exercises. Several exercises are included at the end of each chapter, providing excellent self-checks for students and homework options for instructors.

(ICON) Internet Exercises. Appearing at the end of each chapter, these exercises connect students to the real world through the world-wide web. Students are instructed to go to the Boyes/Melvin website (http://college.hmco.com) and click on the appropriate chapter exercise. The exercises will link students to real data in, for example, the Economic Report of the President, annual report for the Coca-Cola Company, the home page for the Sierra Club, and the World Trade Organization. Additional web-based assignments and resources are also available on the Boyes/Melvin site for both instructors and students.

A Pedagogically Sound Art Program

Economics can be intimidating, which is why we've incorporated a number of pedagogical devices to help students read and interpret graphs. Annotations on the art point out areas of particular concern or importance. For example, students can see at a glance what parts of the graph illustrate a shortage or a surplus, a change in consumption or consumer surplus.

Tables that provide data from which graphs are plotted are paired with their graphs. A good example is Figure 4 in Chapter 3. There, color is used to show correlations between the art and the table, and captions clearly explain what is shown in the figure, linking them to the text discussion. The text's color photographs tell interesting stories as well as illustrate concepts, and their accompanying captions draw connections between the images and the text discussion.

A Complete Teaching and Learning System

Our supplementary package provides the breadth and depth of support needed by both instructors and students. And to foster the development of consistent teaching and study strategies, the ancillaries follow the same pedagogical format as the text, incorporating the Fundamental Questions and in-text referencing system throughout. We provide:

Instructor's Resource Manual by Ali Kutan, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, follows the Fundamental Questions framework. It contains a Lecture Outline with teaching strategies, presents Opportunities for Discussion, answers to end-of-chapter questions, and answers to homework questions in the Study Guide. Each chapter also includes an Active-Learning Exercise which instructors can assign as homework or conduct in class.

Test Bank and Computerized Test Bank, developed by the text authors, includes over 1700 questions with a mix of difficulty levels. There are multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions, including approximately 10 questions per chapter paralleling those in the Study Guide. All are linked to the in-text referencing system so instructors can conveniently test down to the paragraph level.

Study Guide by Janet Dimmen and James Clark, Wichita State University, provides brief answers to the Fundamental Questions, Quick Check Quizzes, Practice Questions and Problems, Thinking About and Applying sections, Sample Tests which include several questions that are the same or similar to those in the Test Bank.

Web Sites for Instructor and Student (http://college.hmco.com) provide an extended learning environment and a rich store of teaching resources. For the instructor, we offer economic and teaching resource links, teaching tips, and web-based assignment material. Students can also access the site and click on web-based assignments linked to the text, in addition to other web exercises, key economic links for every chapter, on-line tests, plus access to the Economist's Guide to the Internet.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to our friends and colleagues who have so generously given their time, creativity, and insight to help us create this text. In particular, we would like to thank Andrea Worrell, ITT Educational Services, Inc. for inspiring us to write the text with students like hers in mind. We also valued the constructive comments we received from Denise L. Stanley, University of Tennessee; Roger F. Riefler; University of Nebraska; and Arthur J. Janssen, Emporia State University. We'd also like to thank Ali Kutan, for his work on the Instructor's Resource Manual; Melissa Hardison and Eugenio Suarez, who worked with us in developing the Test Bank; and Janet Dimmen and Jim Clark for developing a strong Study Guide.

Finally, we want to thank the staff at Houghton Mifflin for their support and publishing expertise, specifically, Bonnie Binkert, Ann West, Bernadette Walsh, Liz Napolitano, Carol Merrigan, Joanne Cavanaugh, and our freelance development editor, Joanne Dorff.