"How did you come to that conclusion?"

People don't often ask that question about the assertions made by economic pundits—economists and media commentators.

When people draw conclusions regarding economic issues, they should be able to explain why they reach those conclusions. If they don't explain, you should call those conclusions into question. But, you need the thinking tools required to help you formulate those questions.

In this section we will discuss the reasoning processes required to come to valid conclusions about economic activity.