當前經濟學區分成個體經濟學與總體經濟學。前者採取原子式方法分析個體決策，而把外部性問題交給後者解決，並賦予政府高於市場的權力。在此思維下，經濟學家很容易定義自己的任務為：有效率地將政治權力之配置轉換成財富的重分配。經濟學不自覺地淪為一門遭受譏諷的「沒有公義的社會科學」，或被批評為不願探究真實社會的「偽科學」。多數的經濟學家在專精於數理之後，也長期困在偽科學裡。
當前的教科書也認識到這問題的嚴重性，但僅能零星地添加補救的章節。究其原因是，現今經濟學家甚少接觸到政治經濟學。經濟學的使命是體制變革，要求學者隨時回顧社會狀態，尋找一般百姓能生活更好的政經體制。因此，經濟學有必要在現行的個體經濟學和總體經濟學之外，加入政治經濟學，或稱「經濟學原理三」。
本書架構在此視野下，內容分五篇。第一篇回顧政治經濟學的發展並介紹教學架構。第二篇探討經濟行動的主觀性、創業家精神、和知識與資本累積等核心概念。第三篇論述自由經濟體制的各議題。第四篇檢討不同的政治經濟體制，包括計劃經濟、福利國家、社會民主、第三條路和權利與正義理論。第五篇討論當代的凱因斯經濟管理政策和兩岸政治經濟發展。
Economics has been divided into Microeconomics and Macroeconomics to date. While Microeconomics concerns under the atomic individualism the analysis of individual decisions, Macroeconomics empowers the government not only the duty to solve the externality problems but also the rights superior to ones of the market. According to such thinking, economists readily orientate themselves to efficiently convert configurations of political powers into wealth redistributions. Consequently, Economics becomes an ironic discipline as "the social science without justice." It is even criticized as a “pseudo-science” which has been far from the real society. Unfortunately, most economists have trapped in the pseudo-science over a long term after specializing in mathematics.
Authors of textbooks have also criticized such problems, but they only can solve it by adding few chapters under the stereotypical framework. It is the reason that contemporary economists seldom learn Political Economics. From perspectives of classical tradition of Political Economy, the mission of Economics is to change institutions, which strongly requires scholars to find a well political-economy for citizens by watching and updating the last social conditions. Accordingly, Economics is supposedly introduced Political Economics as Principles of Economics III, in addition to Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
This book is organized into five parts. Section 1 reviews the historical development of political economics and indicates the framework for teaching. Section 2 explores the fundamental concepts for Political Economics including the subjectivity of economical actions, entrepreneurship, and knowledge with capital accumulation. Section 3 argues the important issues for a free economy. Section 4 criticizes different political economies including planned economy, welfare states, social democracy, the third way, as well as theory of right and justice. Finally, Keynesian economic management together with the development for both economics and politics between Taiwan and China are discussed in Section 5.
