A major in economics gives students a greater understanding of how people, businesses, and governments respond to their economic environments. Many of the issues that fill the newspapers — jobs, wages, taxes, the cost of living, inequality, pollution, poverty, and economic growth — are, in fundamental ways, economic issues. The daily decisions of businesses and consumers are largely economic. Economists seek to understand the decisions of businesses, consumers, and current economic issues by developing a systematic and thorough understanding of precisely how the economic system operates, including the mechanisms by which resources are allocated, prices determined, income redistributed, and economic growth promoted.