This selection of Barzel's papers focuses upon issues in microeconomics. They cover production functions and productivity, optimal timing, labour, public choice, industrial organization, demand analysis, and property rights and transaction costs. Key contributions featured in this collection include "Some Observations on the Index Number Problem", "An Alternative Approach to the Analysis of Taxation, "An Economic Analysis of Slavery" and "Measurement Cost and the Organization of Markets". As an introduction to this volume, Professor Barzel has prepared an autobiographical sketch in which he discusses his education, the development of his ideas, and influences such as Don Patinkin, Douglass North and Aaron Director.