Real Economic Variables

Abstract

This essay seeks to give a homely start to the search for the relevant variables in economic science. It carries forward, through simple illustrations, the pointers of the first two essays. The invitation to you is to identify two cycles of activity and exchange that are necessary for the progress of the simplest barter economy. The invitation leads gently to the plausibility of the need for the invention of money as an enrichment of the promise of economic progress, so making way for the analysis of the activity of promising that is the topic of the essay to follow.