Text 2. What is economics.

Text 1. ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE

Although the content and character of economics cannot be described briefly, numerous writers have attempted that. An especially useless, though once popular, example is: «Economics is what economists do».

A notable economist of the last century Alfred Marshall called economics «a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life». Lionel Robbins in the 1930s described economics as «the science of choice among scarce means to accomplish unlimited ends».

In the 19^th century economics was called simply «the science of wealth». Like every other discipline that attempts to explain observed facts (e.g. physics, astronomy), economics comprises a vast collection of descriptive material organized around a central core of theoretical principles.

Economics deals with data on income, employment, expenditure, interest rates, prices, consumption, transportation and trade. Economics deals directly with only a tiny fraction of the whole spectrum of human behavior, and so the range of problems considered by economists is relatively narrow. Contrary to popular opinion, economics does not normally include such things as personal finance, ways to start a small business.

Questions:

1) Who has attempted to describe the content and character of economics?

2) What definition of economics was given by Alfred Marshall?

3) What definition of economics was given by Lionel Robbins?

4) What definitions of economics do you know?

5) What does economics deal with?

6) What does not economics deal with?

Text 2. WHAT IS ECONOMICS?

Economics deals with the problem of scarcity and choice that have faced societies and nations throughout history, but the development of modern economists began in the 17^th century. Since that time economists have developed methods for studying and explaining how individuals, businesses and nations use their available economic resources.

One of the things that people discover every day is that you can’t have everything. You are reminded of it every time you shop. Although you may see twenty or thirty items that you would really like to buy, you know that you will have to limit your selection to one or two. Everyone goes through life having to make choices.

Every business must choice from among the things they would like to have because they cannot have everything. Governments, too, cannot have everything. Every year the most important political debates concern questions about spending taxpayer's money.

Neither individuals nor societies can have all the things they would like to have. Economists note that there is no limit to the amount or kinds of things that people want. There is, however, a limit to the resources available to satisfy those wants.

To summarize: human wants are unlimited, but the resources necessary to satisfy those wants are limited. Thus, every society is faced with the identical problem, the problem of scarcity.

Everyone – individuals, business firms and government – needs to make choices from among the things they want. In the process they will try to economize, to get the most from what they have. With this in mind, we can define economics as the social science that describes and analyzes how society chooses from among scarce resources to satisfy its wants.

Questions:

1) What problem does economics deal with?

2) When did the development of modern economics begun?

3) What methods have economists developed?

4) What thing do people discover every day?

5) What do economists note?