Noun

Singular economics

Plural uncountable

economics (uncountable)

1. (Social sciences) The study of resource allocation, distribution and consumption; of capital and investment; and of management of the factors of production.

Synonyms

• dismal science
• See also Wikisaurus:economics

Derived terms

• -nomics

Related terms

• economy

This article is about the social science. For other uses, see Economics (disambiguation).

For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of economics.

Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, "management of a household, administration") from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current economic models developed out of the broader field of political economy in the late 19th century, owing to a desire to use an empirical approach more akin to the physical sciences.

A definition that captures much of modern economics is that of Lionel Robbins in a 1932 essay:

"... the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses."

Scarcity means that available resources are insufficient to satisfy all wants and needs. Absent of scarcity and alternative uses of available resources there is no economic problem. The subject thus defined involves the study of choices as they are affected by incentives and resources.

Economics aims to explain how economies work and how economic agents interact. Economic analysis is applied throughout society, in business, finance and government, but also in crime, education, the family, health, law, politics, religion, social institutions, war, and science. The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.

Common distinctions are drawn between various dimensions of economics: between positive economics (describing "what is") and normative economics (advocating "what ought to be") or between economic theory and applied economics or between mainstream economics (more "orthodox" dealing with the "rationality-individualism-equilibrium nexus") and heterodox economics (more "radical" dealing with the "institutions-history-social structure nexus"). However the primary textbook distinction is between microeconomics ("small" economics), which examines the economic behavior of agents (including individuals and firms) and macroeconomics ("big" economics), addressing issues of unemployment, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy for an entire economy.

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Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold).

Sourced

Alphabetized by author

• In fact, without any exaggeration, the current mechanism of money creation through credit is certainly the "cancer" that's irretrievably eroding market economies of private property.
  • Maurice Allais, in La Crise mondiale d’aujourd’hui. Pour de profondes réformes des institutions financières et monétaires (1999), p. 74

• The more opportunities there are in a Society for some persons to live upon the toil of others, and the less those others may enjoy the fruits of their work themselves, the more is diligence killed, the former become insolent, the latter despairing, and both negligent.
  • Anders Chydenius The National Gain (1765)

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Wed Jan 27 20:20:31 2010