Principal definition economics
Human activity is prompted by the desire to secure certain ends or objects There are many possible ends All the en Is arc no} of equal importance Some nrc deSired wait greater intense than others Put the ends provide the motive power behind hum in activityĪ man can use bis labour for producing production, consumption and distribution of wealth among various nations in the past foodstuffs or for pointing a picture The scarcity of means forces men to choose between different means with a view to adjust the available means to the desired endsĪccording to Robbins scarcity of means to satisfy ends of varying importance is the characteristic feature of human life Scarcity creates certain problems and economics is the science which deals with these problems Economics should therefore be defined in terms of scarcity and not m terms of wealth or in terms of welfare Economics is concerned with the forms assumed by human behaviour in the disposing of scarce means or the allocation of scarce resources. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Alfred Marshall defined economics in terms of human Activity Political Economics Is a study of man s actions in the ordinary business of life It enquire., how he pets his income and how he spenls it Marshalls definition emphasised two invariant points tr (1) economics is concerned with man and (u) economics Is concerned only with the wealth petting and the wealth using activities of man (not with all aspects of human activity.įor a long time Marshall’s definition was generally accepted as the best possible definition of economics It was however not n precise definition It did not indicate the real nature of economic activities nor did It cxjm how economic problems originateĪccording to Hobbins economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which line alternative uses This definition emphasises the following points The founders of economic science Adam Smith John Stuart Mill nml others defined it as the science of wealth This definition was 100 materialistic It need too much emphasis on wealth and too little on man and his welfare Economics Definition been defined differently by different writers.