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 house(hold)".[1] 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.[2]

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,[3] education,[4] the family, health, law, politics, religion,[5] social institutions, war,[6] and science.[7] The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.

Common distinctions are drawn between various dimensions of economics. The primary textbook distinction is between microeconomics, which examines the behavior of basic elements in the economy, including individual markets and agents (such as consumers and firms, buyers and sellers), and macroeconomics, which addresses issues affecting an entire economy, including unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy. Other distinctions include: between positive economics (describing "what is") and normative economics (advocating "what ought to be"); between economic theory and applied economics; 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");[9] and between rational and behavioral economics.

MarketsMicroeconomics, like macroeconomics, is a fundamental method for analyzing the economy as a system. It treats households and firms interacting through individual markets as irreducible elements of the economy, given scarcity and government regulation. A market might be for a product, say fresh corn, or the services of a factor of production, say bricklaying. The theory considers aggregates of quantity demanded by buyers and quantity supplied by sellers at each possible price per unit. It weaves these together to describe how the market may reach equilibrium as to price and quantity or respond to market changes over time.

Such analysis includes the theory of supply and demand. It also examines market structures, such as perfect competition and monopoly for implications as to behavior and economic efficiency. Analysis of change in a single market often proceeds from the simplifying assumption that relations in other markets remain unchanged, that is, partial-equilibrium analysis. General-equilibrium theory allows for changes in different markets and aggregates across all markets, including their movements and interactions toward equilibrium.[10]

Production, cost, and efficiencyMain