Economics is not about money. Economics is about how people, individually or in groups, cooperate to allocate limited resources across competing demands.

When you decide to spend an hour of your time watching TV or reading a book (or a web site), you are making an economic choice. Your time is a limited resource. The things you can do with your time are virtually unlimited. You make this choice based on which activity you think will bring you the most of what you want - what you value - and the least of what you don't want. You are "economizing" by maximizing your pleasure and minimizing your pain. And if you do not choose to think about it, you have still made a choice. An implicit choice to avoid making an explicit choice. There is no one right answer to how you should spend your time. Everyone's values are different, and ever changing, even minute by minute.

This web site is a collection of short essays on topics related to economics. Each page has a comment form at the bottom where you can ask questions or merely render an opinion. Your comment will not be posted. If you hope for a personal reply, you need to include your email address.

With that, let's get started... Where would you like to start?

One concept that's important to me is word "cooperate" in the first paragraph above. It isn't a given that people will cooperate in the process of allocating the limited resources. The other alternatives are to use force or fraud.