Why are some lives--and some countries--so wealthy, and others so deprived? This apparently simple question is the starting point of Partha Dasgupta's contemporary, intelligible introduction to economics and how it shapes our lives. Combining examples from everyday life with a global approach that considers not just the economics of the West but that of the world's 2.4 billion poor, Dasgupta reveals how economics can give us deep insight into some of our most intractable problems--and provide solutions to them, too.