Book excerpt: This text aims to brings some of the excitement of domestic and global economic news into the classroom. The author's three core questions - what does the economy produce?; how is it produced?; and for whom does it produce? - help students quickly grasp the facts of economic life. The Macroeconomy Today examines the tension between free market demands and government intervention and challenges students to consider the implications of each. Every chapter starts and ends with a policy issue that reinforces that tension.