"Nearly forty years after The Death and Life of Great American Cities changed the field of urban studies, Jane Jacobs brings us a modern classic on economies and ecology. This new book looks at the connection between the economy and nature, arguing that the principles of development, common to both systems, are the proper subject of economic study. ". "The Nature of Economics is written in the form of a Platonic dialogue, a conversation over coffee among five contemporary New Yorkers. The question they discuss is: Does economic life obey the same rules as those governing the systems in nature? For example, can the way fields and forests maximize their intakes and uses of sunlight teach us something about how economies expand wealth and jobs and can do this in environmentally beneficial ways? The underlying question is both simple and profound, and the answers that emerge will shape the way people think about how economies really work. "--BOOK JACKET.