Definitions of economics


Various definitions of economics have been proposed, including attempts to define precisely "what economists do".

Etymology

The term economics was originally known as "political economy". This term evolved from the French Mercantilist usage of économie politique, which expanded the notion of economy from the ancient Greek concept of household management to the national level, as the public administration of state affairs.

Definitions

James Steuart

In 1770, Scottish economist Sir James Steuart wrote An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy, the first book in English with "political economy" in its title, describing it as:
The title page lists subjects including "population, agriculture, trade, industry, money, coins, interest, circulation, banks, exchange, public credit, and taxes".

Say, Carlyle, Mill, and Menger

In 1803, French economist Jean-Baptiste Say distinguished the subject from its public policy uses, defining it as the science of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. On the satirical side, Thomas Carlyle coined 'the dismal science' as an epithet for classical economics, a term often linked to the pessimistic analysis of Malthus. English philosopher John Stuart Mill defined the subject in a social context as:
The shift from the social to the individual level appears within the main works of the Marginal Revolution. Carl Menger's 1871 definition reflects the focus on the economizing man:

William Stanley Jevons

, another influential author of the Marginal Revolution, in 1871 defined economics as highlighting the hedonic and quantitative aspects of the science:

Alfred Marshall

provides a still widely cited definition in his textbook Principles of Economics that extends analysis beyond wealth and from the societal to the microeconomic level, creating a certain synthesis of the views of those still more sympathetic with the classical political economy and those early adopters of the views expressed in the Marginal Revolution.
His inclusion of the expression wellbeing was also very significant to the discussion on the nature of economics:

Lionel Robbins

developed implications of what has been termed "perhaps the most commonly accepted current definition of the subject":
Robbins describes the definition as not classificatory in "pick out certain kinds of behaviour" but rather analytical in "focus attention on a particular aspect of behaviour, the form imposed by the influence of scarcity".
Subsequent authors have sometimes criticized the definition as overly broad, in failing to limit its subject matter to analysis of markets. From the 1960s, these comments abated as the economic theory of maximizing behaviour and rational-choice modelling expanded the domain of the subject to areas previously treated in other fields. Another common criticism concerns scarcity not accounting for the macroeconomics of high unemployment.

Gary Becker

, a contributor to the expansion of economics into new areas, describes the approach he favours as "combining the assumptions of maximizing behaviour, stable preferences, and market equilibrium, used relentlessly and unflinchingly". One commentary characterizes the remark as making economics an approach rather than a subject matter, but with great specificity as to the "choice process and the type of social interaction that such analysis involves".

John Neville Keynes

English economist John Neville Keynes in the early 20th century regarded the discussion leading up to the definition of economics more important than the definition itself. It would be a way to reveal the scope, direction and troubles the science faces.
A recent review of economics definitions from textbooks and other sources included describing the subject as the study of:
  • the "economy"
  • the coordination process
  • the effects of scarcity
  • the science of choice
  • human behaviour
  • human beings as to how they coordinate wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political realities of society
It concludes that the lack of agreement need not affect the subject matter that the texts treat. Among economists more generally, it argues that a particular definition presented may reflect the direction toward which the author believes economics is evolving, or should evolve.

Further references