ECONOMICS

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek oikonomia, "management of a household, administration" from oikos, "house"  nomos, "custom" or "law", hence "rules of the household". Current economic models emerged from the broader field of political economy in the late 19th century. A primary stimulus for the development of modern economics was the desire to use an empirical approach more akin to the physical sciences.

economics, study of how human beings allocate scarce resources to produce various commodities and how those commodities are distributed for consumption among the people in society . The essence of economics lies in the fact that resources are scarce, or at least limited, and that not all human needs and desires can be met. How to distribute these resources in the most efficient and equitable way is a principal concern of economists. The field of economics has undergone a remarkable expansion in the 20th cent. as the world economy has grown increasingly large and complex. Today, economists are employed in large numbers in private industry, government, and higher education. Many subjects, such as political science and sociology, which were once regarded as part of the study of economics, have today become separate disciplines, although the study of any one generally implies a working knowledge of the others.

 

Alfred Marshall, a pioneer neoclassical economist, reoriented economics towards the study of humanity and provided economic science with a more comprehensive definition. Marshall, in his famous book Principles of Economics published in 1890, defines economics as follows:

"Political Economy or Economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life. It examines that part of individual & social action which is most closely connected with the attainment & with the use of material requisites of well-being".