Because social welfare policy is interwoven with the economic structure of our so-ciety, social workers should have a working knowledge and understanding of eco-nomic phenomena. “Unless the relationship between economics and social work is strengthened, the ability of social work to influence social policy will tend to de-crease” (Page, 1977, p. 49). The course of social welfare policy during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s seems to confirm this view. Before we can influence social wel-fare policy, we must understand economic policy. The rest of this chapter is de-voted to coverage of the key economic issues relevant to social welfare policy and the relationship of economics to social well-being.