Introduction to the economics of agriculture

This chapter explains why economics is important and interesting. It defines the study of economics and discusses what economics is about. We introduce and explain economic terms, including producers, consumers, macroeconomics, microeconomics, positive and normative economics, absolute prices, and relative prices. The major discussion explains why scarcity is the fundamental concept of economics. The chapter also introduces and explains economic organization, resources, trends in the agricultural economy, and a review of graphs and their construction.