Among the issues discussed in Applied Economics are world population growth and the economic factors governing international migration: issues that are as pertinent today as when the book was originally published.

The problems of defining and comparing industrial and general efficiency in different economies are also discussed, using comparative studies from the UK and USA. The opportunities for analysing the pattern of world trade and the reasons for the varying degrees of national dependence on external trade, as well as the concentration of world export in particular channels are also examined.