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Economics (/ ˌ ɛ k ə ˈ n ɒ m ɪ k s, ˌ iː k ə-/) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work.
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Written byMark Blaug
Mark Blaug
Visiting Professor of Economics, University of Exeter, England. Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Buckingham, England. Emeritus Professor of the Economics of Education, Institute of Education, University of London. Author of Economic Theory in Retrospect.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
No one has ever succeeded in neatly defining the scope of economics. Many have agreed with Alfred Marshall, a leading 19th-century English economist, that economics is “a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment, and with the use of the material requisites of wellbeing”—ignoring the fact that sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists frequently study exactly the same phenomena. In the 20th century, English economist Lionel Robbins defined economics as “the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between (given) ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.” In other words, Robbins said that economics is the science of economizing. While his definition captures one of the striking characteristics of the economist’s way of thinking, it is at once too wide (because it would include in economics the game of chess) and too narrow (because it would exclude the study of the national income or the price level). Perhaps the only foolproof definition is that attributed to Canadian-born economist Jacob Viner: economics is what economists do.
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Difficult as it may be to define economics, it is not difficult to indicate the sorts of questions that concern economists. Among other things, they seek to analyze the forces determining prices—not only the prices of goods and services but the prices of the resources used to produce them. This involves the discovery of two key elements: what governs the way in which human labour, machines, and land are combined in production and how buyers and sellers are brought together in a functioning market. Because prices of the various things must be interrelated, economists therefore ask how such a “price system” or “market mechanism” hangs together and what conditions are necessary for its survival.
The effective birth of economics as a separate discipline may be traced to the year 1776, when the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. There was, of course, economics before Smith: the Greeks made significant contributions, as did the medieval scholastics, and from the 15th to the 18th century an enormous amount of pamphlet literature discussed and developed the implications of economic nationalism (a body of thought now known as mercantilism). It was Smith, however, who wrote the first full-scale treatise on economics and, by his magisterial influence, founded what later generations were to call the “English school of classical political economy,” known today as classical economics.
Adam Smith, paste medallion by James Tassie, 1787; in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
Economics is the social science that studies how people make choices about wealth, resources, and markets. Learn about the history, branches, and applications of economics from Britannica, the authoritative source of knowledge.
Apr 4, 2024 · Economics is a social science that studies how people allocate scarce resources for production, distribution, and consumption. Learn about the two branches of economics, microeconomics and macroeconomics, and the key economic indicators and systems that measure and shape the economy.
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Learn the basics of economics from Adam Smith's perspective, including the definition, microeconomics, macroeconomics, and assumptions. Watch the video and join the conversation with other learners' questions and comments.
- 10 min
- Sal Khan
The Economist covers world news, business, finance, politics, culture and more. Read about the US election, the war in Ukraine, India's economy, disinformation and other topics.
