Why are some people rich and others poor? Why do we worry about unemployment, inflation, the balance of payments, economic growth, the rate of interest, the value of sterling? Should the government interfere with the activities of businesses? What is globalisation? Why do millions of children in less economically developed countries die of malnutrition and preventable diseases? Why are the world's rainforests disappearing at the rate of one acre per second? These questions are the focus of much national and international debate. To truly understand them a basic grounding in economics is essential. Economics is the study of the forces within human society that lead to the creation of material wealth and the problems of scarcity of resources. It explains how these forces work to benefit mankind and why sometimes it is necessary to control them.