Economics is about ideas, not models. The goal of this text is to convey to students the ideas that make up modern economics. The ideas are both about the way the economy works, and about how to design policy to make the economy work bette.

Ideas are nuanced; models are not. From its beginning, this book has provided a nuanced narrative that emphasizes both ideas and models. Its distinctive features have been its conversational style and its inclusion of different views within mainstream economics. It doesn’t offer a cookie cutter presentation of material, but instead offers a blend of logical model building and nuanced discussion of applying the models. The writing style is conversational, designed to allow the student to feel a connection with me—the writer—to make it clear that I am a human being, not a machine. This approach is particularly welcomed as students spend more and more time learning material online.

经济学是关于思想，而不是模型。本文的目的是向学生传达构成现代经济学的思想。这些想法既涉及经济运行方式，也涉及如何设计政策，使经济更好地运转。

想法是微妙的，模型不是。从一开始，这本书提供了一个微妙的叙述，强调了思想和模式。它的显著特点是它的会话风格和在主流经济学中包含不同的观点。它不提供材料的简单介绍，而是提供了逻辑模型构建和应用模型的细微讨论的混合体。写作风格是对话式的，旨在让学生感受到与我的联系，作家明确表示我是人，而不是机器。这种方法特别受欢迎，因为学生花越来越多的时间在网上学习材料