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Origin and Definitions of Economics

Economics originated from the Greek word "okionomia" meaning household management or management of household affairs. It referred to how people earn income, spend resources to fulfill desires given scarce means. Early economics was called political economy. Economics can be defined as the study of how scarce resources are allocated to meet unlimited wants. It examines how individuals and societies satisfy material needs. Some key aspects are efficient use of limited resources to maximize satisfaction and attain production, distribution, and consumption of wealth according to natural laws. There is no single agreed upon definition of economics as different economists criticize definitions from various perspectives. It is difficult to concisely define the subject in a few words and a proper definition remains uncertain.

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962 views2 pages

Origin and Definitions of Economics

Economics originated from the Greek word "okionomia" meaning household management or management of household affairs. It referred to how people earn income, spend resources to fulfill desires given scarce means. Early economics was called political economy. Economics can be defined as the study of how scarce resources are allocated to meet unlimited wants. It examines how individuals and societies satisfy material needs. Some key aspects are efficient use of limited resources to maximize satisfaction and attain production, distribution, and consumption of wealth according to natural laws. There is no single agreed upon definition of economics as different economists criticize definitions from various perspectives. It is difficult to concisely define the subject in a few words and a proper definition remains uncertain.

Uploaded by

Rolly Abelon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Origin and Definitions of Economics

Origin of Economics:

The word "economics" is derived from a Greek word "okionomia", which means "household
management" or "management of house affairs how people earn income and resources and how they
spend them on their necessities, comforts and luxuries. With the passage of time, the word
"okionomia" was used for an economy as whole in the sense that how a nation takes steps to fulfill its
desires and preferences with the help of scarce means. That's why economics was called political
economy in its early ages.
Definitions of Economics:
 Economics is a science, which is concerned with those aspects of social behaviors
and institutions that are involved in using the scarce resources to produce and
distribute goods and services to satisfy human wants.

 The study of the problem of using available factors of production as efficiently as


possible so as to attain the maximum fulfillment of society's unlimited demands for
goods & services.

 The science that studies how scarce resources are allocated to meet competing and
unlimited wants and how human beings satisfy their material wants and needs.

 The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately
applicable to policy. It is method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a
technique for thinking, which helps its possessor draw correct conclusions.

According to other Economists:


According to Benjamin Davis
"Economics is the science that studies how scarce resources are allocated to meet competing and
unlimited wants and how human beings satisfy their material wants and needs."
According to Bradely R. Schiller
"Economics is the study of how best to allocate scarce resources among competing uses."

According to Jackson and Mclver


"Economics is concerned with the efficient use of limited productive resources for the purpose of
attaining the maximum satisfaction of our material wants."

In simple words, economics can be defined as;


"Economics is the study of those natural laws which governs production, distribution and
consumption of wealth; in economics we study that individual and social behavior of man which
satisfy his desires and causes overall economic development."

There is no single definition of economics upon which all the economists are mutually agreed. Every
definition is criticized by the different economists from different angles. Therefore it is difficult to
describe the subject matter of economics in a few words, and proper definition of economics is still a
question mark. That's why, perhaps, Keynes was not far wrong when he said "political economy is
said to have strangled itself with definitions."

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