In Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar, Nasar describes the history of economics from the theories of Dickens and Malthus in the 1800s, to Maynard Keynes and Freidrich Hayek in the early 1900s, and in FDR's policies and the emergence of China as a world economic power. Ultimately, throughout the history of economics four fundamental principles have been expounded in a variety of areas, including the relationship between the economy and class structure, population, and Dickens' idea that rigid class structure is the reason of economic failure. This demonstrates the economic principle that economic systems influence individual choices and incentives. During Dickens' era, many members of the lower classes were increasingly angry at their economic systems as the rules changed and became even more unfair. In countries such as France, India, and England, the rigid class structure during this period was a driving force in the economic turmoil. Due to the lack of political power among the lower classes, the economic structure was heavily skewed in favor of the aristocracy. This resulted in high taxation of the poor and little or no taxation of the rich. Furthermore, this meant that most of the available resources went to the rich. This limited the choices of the lower classes when it came to trade because, due to the scarcity of money, they had to choose their needs over their wants when making economic choices. Because wages and work incentives were so minimal, individuals received responses in predictable ways, such as protesting laws that limited them and seeking to change the system to improve their incentives. For many years the underclass has cooperated with established laws, but... middle of paper... has a sense of the expected costs and benefits of alternatives. Individuals' choices are often similar across a region due to the impact of local customs, economic systems, and area-based utilities on individual choices. These individual choices then add up collectively to determine the distribution of resources in the future. Throughout world history, class structure, economic and political freedom, and population have always been important topics. These areas are also incredibly important to the history of economics, as Sylvia Nasar explains in her book Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius. This novel explains how voluntary trade, individual choices, consequences, and opportunity costs are all interconnected parts of various issues such as population and class structure, and are often attributed in part to economic and political systems..