Preface

I had no real idea of what I wanted to be when I finished high school. What I did know was that I loved economics. I was fortunate to have a passionate economics high school teacher who shared their enthusiasm with us. Economics was a language which, even though my father had limited formal education, easily extended to home discussions where we would talk about land mergers, economies of scale, and how public policies were impacting our everyday lives. And so, enrolling in a Bachelor of Economics felt like a natural extension.

Those without such early exposure may not easily identify what economics is all about. The cover of this textbook features a word cloud created from responses by my first-year business and commerce students when, in Week 1, they are asked: “What words come to mind when you think of economics?” Over the past decade, the most frequent response has been money. Similarly, when I tell people that I am an economist, the conversation often turns immediately to the stock market. These reactions are understandable—but they also reveal a common misconception: that economics is primarily about financial markets. In reality, economics is about how individuals, households, firms, and governments make decisions in a world of scarcity.

This narrow understanding of economics is not unique to my classroom. Recent work by the Reserve Bank of Australia has highlighted declining enrolments in economics and broader concerns about economic literacy, even among students who studied the subject at school (Chow, 2025).^[1] These trends have emerged within a higher-education environment reshaped by the 2021 Job-Ready Graduates reforms, which shifted government funding and significantly increased student fees for humanities, arts, and social science degrees (Department of Education, 2024).^[2] While these changes aimed to nudge students toward areas of perceived labour-market demand, they have also increased the financial burden on disciplines that foster economic literacy, critical thinking, and civic reasoning. Fewer students studying economics risks narrowing the diversity of perspectives entering public policy, business, and research, and limits opportunities to develop the reasoning skills needed for informed decisions and active citizenship.

By the end of week 10, my students are often surprised at how useful and relevant economics is. They begin to see its value in understanding everyday issues such as housing affordability, employment, inflation, health care, climate policy, and education. Whether or not they pursue a career as economists, the skills developed through studying economics equip them to understand trade-offs, evaluate policy, and make informed decisions.

In this vein, this open-access resource has been adapted to embed economic principles in everyday Australian contexts. By grounding these principles in real-world examples, the book aims to challenge misconceptions about economics and show why it matters—not only in markets, but in the everyday choices individuals, households, firms and governments make.

Here’s to making economics accessible, relevant, and engaging—long live economics!