Translated from the Spanish, this short book is an overview of most of the basic ideas of economics, presented from an Austrian school perspective. The organization of the book roughly parallels that of Mises’s Human Action, though it is considerably shorter and written in a way more accessible to people reading economics for the first time. The book includes chapters on “Nationalism and Socialism” and “The Controlled Economy.” Though written in the 1950s, much of what Ballve has to say remains timeless in its relevance.