This core textbook examines the economic paradigms at work in media industries and markets, enabling analysis of the media system as a whole. In addition to succinct accounts of neo-classical and critical political economics, this insightful text offers fresh perspectives for understanding media drawn from two 'heterodox' approaches: institutional economics and evolutionary economics. Applying these paradigms to vital topics and case studies, Stuart Cunningham, Terry Flew and Adam Swift stress the value - and limits - of contending economic approaches in understanding how the media operates today. Succinct and accessible, this text is essential reading for all students of media and communication studies, as well as those from economics, policy studies, business studies and marketing backgrounds with an interest in the media.