This book is written for students; this preface, however, is written for professors. One of the first lessons of writing is: Know for whom you are writing. This book is written for students; this preface, how- ever, is written for professors. Why? The answer is simple- the students for whom this book is written don't read prefaces; they don't read anything in a textbook unless it is assigned (and sometimes they don't read that). Their interests lie in the real world, not in texts. The style and structure of the body of this text is made to turn on such students, as much as they can be turned on, to economic ideas. Alas, I recognize that I will fail with many, but I sincerely believe that my success rate of actually getting students to read this textbook will likely be higher than will be the success rate for other economic text- books written in standard professorial style. I also recognize that students will never get a chance to read this text unless the professor chooses the book, which is why I write this preface for professors-they read prefaces. (If you're one of those rare students who read textbook prefaces, read on; it will give you a sense of what will be coming in the course.) I'm pleased to say that the first edition of this book was very well received. As Sally Field would say, "They like me!" Since this second edition keeps most of the distinctive compo- nents and style of the first edition, the preface I wrote for that first edition remains directly relevant. So let me begin this preface with the key elements of that first edition preface. -----Bu kitob talabalar uchun yozilgan; bu muqaddima esa professorlar uchun yozilgan.Yozishning birinchi saboqlaridan biri: Kim uchun yozayotganingizni biling. Bu kitob talabalar uchun yozilgan; bu muqaddima esa professorlar uchun yozilgan. Nega? Javob oddiy - bu kitob yozilgan talabalar so'z boshini o'qimaydi; ular darslikdagi biror narsani o'qimaydi, agar unga topshirilmagan bo'lsa (va ba'zan ular buni o'qimaydilar). Ularning qiziqishlari matnlarda emas, balki real dunyoda yotadi. Ushbu matnning uslubi va tuzilishi bunday o'quvchilarni iqtisodiy g'oyalarga jalb qilish uchun yaratilgan. Afsuski, men ko'pchilikda muvaffaqiyatsizlikka uchraganimni tan olaman, lekin chin dildan ishonamanki, talabalarni ushbu darslikni o'qishga undashdagi muvaffaqiyatim standart professor uslubida yozilgan boshqa iqtisodiy darsliklarga qaraganda yuqori bo'ladi. Shuni ham tan olamanki, agar professor kitobni tanlamasa, talabalar hech qachon ushbu matnni o'qish imkoniyatiga ega bo'lmaydilar, shuning uchun men professorlar uchun bu so'zboshini yozaman - ular kirish so'zlarini o'qiydilar. (Agar siz darslik so'zlarini o'qiydigan kamdan-kam talabalardan bo'lsangiz, o'qing; bu sizga kursda nimalar bo'lishini his qiladi.) Ushbu kitobning birinchi nashri juda yaxshi qabul qilinganini aytishdan mamnunman. Salli Fild aytganidek, "Ular meni yaxshi ko'radilar!" Ushbu ikkinchi nashrda birinchi nashrning o'ziga xos qismlari va uslubining aksariyati saqlanib qolganligi sababli, men birinchi nashr uchun yozgan so'z to'g'ridan-to'g'ri dolzarbligicha qolmoqda. Shunday ekan, ushbu muqaddimani birinchi nashrning so'zboshisining asosiy elementlari bilan boshlaylik.