INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS
THE MEANING OF ECONOMICS What is Economics? The infamous word " Economics " has largely been used to describe situation where money is limited and wants are many. Some of its users refer to it as the quality of being able to use the available resources to get the best from the situation. There is an economic aspect to almost any topic we care to mention – education, employment, housing, transport, defence etc. Economics is a comprehensive theory of how the society works. But as such, it is difficult to define. The great classical economist Alfred Marshal defined economics as the " Study of man in the ordinary business of life ". This, however, this definition is necessary but not sufficient. This is because any definition should take account of the guiding idea in economics which is scarcity. American economist Paul Samuelson thus defined it as: " The study of how people and society choose to employ scarce resources that could have alternative uses ...