Social science has a major and important role to play in analysing the nature and functioning of the economy. Many of the major economic issues are linked inseparably to other areas of social science research and interest, such as inequality of income and wealth and the effects of this on society. Indeed, many of the ‘classic’ texts analysing the economy—from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, to Marx’s Capital and Keynes’s General Theory—touched on a range of issues beyond the narrowly economic. One such discussion today relates to whether measures of economics growth or progress need to take account of broader aspects than previously, whether welfare or sustainability. This chapter discusses these issues, including with reference to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis and globalisation, and the need to foster a more corporately diverse economy and financial services sector. In terms of environmental sustainability, the importance of complexity is stressed, and the fact that the economy cannot be understood adequately through ‘marginal’ analysis, and that instead systems theory and interdisciplinary approaches are called for.