This volume developed out of lectures I gave in an undergraduate core course taught over a number of years at the University of Denver. My experience with that course taught me something about the difficulties of teaching and learning and about the pitfalls of writing for the purpose of the general education of students.

In my core course I introduce students without background in economics to long-standing themes and ideas of political economy. Today, interest in issues of political economy runs high. The challenge in teaching is to translate an interest in issues into an interest in understanding the larger framework of economic life that spawns those issues.

As it turned out, the book is well suited for only a part of its original audience. Students, and readers more generally, vary in their interest in and patience with the broader concerns emphasized here. Those with an interest in the framework of our thinking about the economy, especially its place in the larger fabric of our social lives, should find this book of value.

In recent years the term political economy has taken on breadth and diversity as interest in the subject has grown substantially. This book does not attempt to mirror either the breadth or diversity of contemporary work in political economy. It speaks from only one of its corners – originally Adam Smith's, although in his day it was a larger part of the whole than it is today.