Why do we work? We must survive, and hence we require the basic materialneeds of life: food, clothing, shelter, education, medical care. Beyond that, wewant to get the most out of our lives, and hence we aim for more than bare-bonessubsistence. We want a greater quantity, and a greater variety, of goods and services:for entertainment, for travel, for cultural and personal enrichment, for comfort,for meaning, for security. We may also work because we enjoy it. Perversely foreconomists (most of whom view work solely as a “disutility”), most people arehappier when they have work to do – thanks to the social interaction, financialwell-being, and self-esteem that good work provides.

Is there a school in your neighbourhood? A hospital? A library? Who pays forthose buildings? Who works there? How do those public facilities compare withthe private homes and businesses around them? Are they newer, or older? Nicer, orshabbier? Is there anywhere a person can go inside in your neighbourhood (otherthan their own home) without having to pay money or buy something?Are the streets clean? If so, who cleaned them? Is the air fresh or smoggy? Arethere any parks in your neighbourhood? Is there anywhere to play? Can people inyour neighbourhood safely drink the water from their taps? How much do theypay for that water? And to whom

The Economics for Everyone websiteThe overarching goal of this book is to make economics accessible and evenentertaining for non-specialist readers. That’s why we’ve kept the book short, usedplain language, illustrated it with Tony Biddle’s awesome cartoons, and avoided(wherever possible) the use of academic-style citations and references.For those who want to continue their study of grass-roots economics, however,we have provided additional information and resources. These are posted, freeof charge, at a special Economics for Everyone website, generously hosted by theCanadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Canada’s major progressive think tank,and the co-publisher of this book)

The Economy and EconomicsTake a walkThe economy must be a very complicated, volatile thing. At least that’s how it seemsin the business pages of the newspaper. Mind-boggling stock market tables. Chartsand graphs. GDP statistics. Foreign exchange rates. It’s little wonder the media turnto economists, the high priests of this mysterious world, to tell us what it means,and why it’s important. And we hear from them several times each day – usuallyvia monotonous “market updates” that interrupt the hourly news broadcasts.Company X’s shares are up two points; Company Y’s are down two points; theanalysts are “bullish”; the analysts are “bearish.

Building an economic “map”The book describes an economy of gradually increasing complexity – starting withthe simplest relationships between employers and workers, shifting our focus to theinteraction between companies, and then considering the roles of the environment,the financial industry, government, and globalization.To portray these increasingly complex relationships, we provide a series ofeconomic “road maps,” illustrated by Tony Biddle. The maps use simple visualicons to identify the major players, and connect the dots between them. By thetime we’ve explained our “big circle” at the conclusion of Part Four, this map willbe a very handy tool for finding your way around capitalism. Like any map, it willhelp you figure out where you are, where you want to go – and how to get there.Stanford EFE2 01 text.indd 9 08/04/2015 09:26Stanford, Jim. Economics for Everyone : A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, Pluto Press, 2015. ProQuest EbookCentral, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/forsythtech-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3440440.Created from forsythtech-ebooks on 2025-08-12 18:08:29.Copyright © 2015. Pluto Press. All rights reserved.

The Basics of Capitalism This part of the book studies the core activities andrelationships that make up capitalism. First we discuss work. Broadly defined,work (or human effort) is the essential ingredient that drives everything in theeconomy. But we don’t work with our bare hands; we must work with tools. Wehave to make those tools, and (in capitalism, anyway) someone owns them.Most work in capitalism is undertaken by employees who are paid wages orsalaries for their efforts. But much work also occurs without any payment,inside households, as people care for themselves and their family members.We describe this basic economic “circle,” in which profit-seeking investmentStanford EFE2 01 text.indd 8 08/04/2015 09:26Stanford, Jim. Economics for Everyone : A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, Pluto Press, 2015. ProQuest EbookCentral, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/forsythtech-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3440440.Created from forsythtech-ebooks on 2025-08-12 18:08:29.Copyright © 2015. Pluto Press. All rights reserved.

Preliminaries The first part of the book defines the economy, and identifiesthe unique features of a capitalist economy. It also provides some historicalbackground. We discuss how capitalism emerged and evolved, and also howthe study of economics emerged and evolved. In both cases, we highlight theconflicts and controversies encountered en route to the present day. I believethat studying economic history and the history of economic thought is aninherently subversive undertaking. It refutes the assumption that capitalism is“natural” and hence ever-lasting, and the related claim that economics is theneutral, technical study of that natural, ever-lasting system.

The economy and societyThe economy is a fundamentally social activity. Nobody does it all by themselves(unless you are a hermit). We rely on each other, and we interact with each other,in the course of our work.It is common to equate the economy with private or individual wealth, profit,and self-interest, and hence it may seem strange to describe it as something “social.”Indeed, free-market economists adopt the starting premise that human beings areinherently selfish (even though this assumption has been proven false by sociobi-ologists and anthropologists alike).In fact, the capitalist economy is not individualistic at all. It is social, and inmany ways it is cooperative. The richest billionaire in the world couldn’t haveearned a dollar without the supporting roles played by his or her workers,suppliers, and customers. There’s no such thing as a “self-made” millionaire orStanford EFE2 01 text.indd 19 08/04/2015 09:26Stanford, Jim. Economics for Everyone : A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, Pluto Press, 2015. ProQuest EbookCentral, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/forsythtech-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3440440.Created from forsythtech-ebooks on 2025-08-12 18:08:29.Copyright © 2015. Pluto Press. All rights reserved.

It seems bizarre, but conventional economists mostly ignore these central facts(with the partial exception of the third). They don’t even use the word “capitalism.”Instead, they call our system a “market economy.” The fact that a few people ownimmense wealth, while most people own almost nothing, is considered accidentalor even irrelevant. They claim, incredibly, that the economy would be exactly thesame whether capitalists hired workers, or workers hired capitalists.

Most people have to work for others, in return for a wage or salary

Capitalism has particular features and forces that need to be identified, just tounderstand how it works. This is true regardless of how you feel about capitalism.Just to understand what’s happening in capitalism, we need to identify and studyits crucial facts

“Capitalism” and “the economy” are not the same thing – even though manyeconomists pretend capitalism is a natural, permanent state of affairs, and hence theonly economy.

That’s why we see economists on the television news every night. We almostnever see educators, social workers, nutritionists, or architects on the nightlynews. Perhaps we should hear more from those other professions, and less fromthe economists. Their advice might actually be more important to our long-termeconomic well-being than that of the economists.

But in reality, economics should be quite straightforward. Ultimately economicsis simply about how we work. What we produce. And how we distribute andultimately use what we’ve produced. Economics is about who does what, who getswhat, and what they do with it.

Never trust an economist with your job