The Brevity Book on Economics (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Brevity Book on Economics<br><br>Economics is a scientific study of man's efforts in satisfying his wants for material things and services. It is an underlying science of business. The entire business world is the laboratory of the economist.<br><br>The economist is mainly interested in promoting the material well-being of society as a whole. He aims to help improve the general standard of living and to promote better distribution of wealth and income. His task is to study scientifically all the essential factors involved in the promotion of national and world prosperity. To him, prosperity means an abundance of economic goods for distribution and abundant opportunity for all to possess and enjoy the good things of life.<br><br>Very few economists oppose the individual's right to possess private property; but they all challenge abuses of this fundamental institution, wherein public welfare is sacrificed to the gain of individuals. Because business activities are now so thoroughly cooperative, society must have public rights - designed to make individual rights more valuable and more equitable. Public ownership of highways, of waterways, of schools, and of similar "public utilities" which can clearly render better service when owned by all the people, is now generally advocated. But all the costs should be considered before making extensions of public ownership. Government ownership and regulation are treated in Chapter III with the question of monopoly.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.