The lower level liberal studies course deals with the application of market economics to explain certain aspects of human behaviour. We first discuss the basic microeconomic concepts that are essential for understanding both markets and human behaviour. These include the concepts of opportunity cost, marginal cost-marginal benefit analysis, the demand curve, the supply curve, and how equilibrium is arrived at in free functioning markets. We then apply these tools to various social topics and issues. We often find that by applying the economic approach we arrive at explanations that are often counter-intuitive.