Economics
Economics as Social Science
Economics as a social science studies how individuals, businesses, and governments allocate resources to satisfy their needs and wants. It examines the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services within society. By analyzing human behavior and interactions, economics seeks to understand and address issues such as scarcity, inequality, and efficiency in resource allocation.
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10 Key excerpts on "Economics as Social Science"
eBook - PDF- Graham Mallard(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Red Globe Press(Publisher)
It’s clear they both view economics as the study of how society can be improved – a definition far removed from the view of economics as a dismal science. Although the views of Stephen and Kate are in harmony, other econo-mists stress different aspects of economics as being most important and of what it’s all about and how to study it 14 1 1 the greatest interest. This variety is one of the many advantages of the sub-ject: the fact that it’s such a wide-reaching discipline means individuals are able to specialise and focus on the areas in which their own interests lie. For some, the interest lies in formal mathematical modelling. For others it lies in the empirical evaluation of public policy. For others still it lies in the under-standing of human decision-making. Economics successfully draws together all these strands, along with a multitude of others, into a study of choice and human interaction and into how policy can be employed to benefit society as a whole. For me, then, and to answer the question of this chapter directly: Economics is the study of choice and human interaction, of the implications of these for society as a whole, and of the policies that can be employed to improve the functioning and the results of both. 1.7 economics as a diverse social science Because economics is the study of choice, human interaction and the wider effects they have, it’s rightly counted among the social sciences along with subjects such as psychology, sociology, international relations, politics, edu-cation and consumer science. In fact, there are clear areas of overlap between economics and these other subjects, with scholars across them studying very similar things. For example, economists are increasingly basing their models on observations about how individuals make decisions, observations that are drawn from both reality and laboratory experiments (see Section 5.7 and Box 5.5).
eBook - ePub- Peter Antonioni, Sean Masaki Flynn(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- For Dummies(Publisher)
Part I Economics: The Science of How People Deal with ScarcityIn this part . . .Economics studies how people deal with scarcity and the inescapable fact that our wants typically exceed the means available to satisfy them. The fact that life has limits may not at first seem like a good basis for an entire social science, but every government decision, every business decision and a large chunk of your personal decisions all come down to deciding how to get the most out of limited resources. Consequently, as we explain in this part, economics is fundamental to almost all aspects of life.
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Chapter 1 What Does Economics Study? And Why Should You Care? In This Chapter Taking a quick peek at economic history Observing how people cope with scarcity Separating macroeconomics and microeconomics Growing the economy and avoiding recessions Understanding individual and firm behaviour Getting a grip on the graphs and models that economists love to useEconomics is the science that studies how people and societies make decisions that allow them to get the most out of their limited resources. Because every country, every business and every person deals with constraints and limitations, economics is literally everywhere.For example, you could be doing something else right now instead of reading this book: exercising, watching a film or talking with a friend. The only reason for you to be reading this book is that doing so is the best possible use of your very limited time.In the same way, you hope that the paper and ink used to make this book have been put to their very best use. Similarly, we all hope that every last tax pound that the government spends is being used in the best possible way, and not being dissipated on projects of secondary importance.
eBook - PDFNewtonian Microeconomics
A Dynamic Extension to Neoclassical Micro Theory
- Matti Estola(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
1 Economics as a Science Economics is a social science that analyzes the conflict between the almost unlimited needs of human beings, and the limited amount of goods available for the satisfaction of people’s needs. For example, the following questions are studied in economics: (1) Why are certain goods produced in different economies? (2) Whose needs does the production aim to satisfy? (3) Which methods are applied in the production of different goods, and what is the reason for this? (4) How are the prices of goods determined? (5) What kind of institutions and economic units exist in societies, and how they operate? (6) What are the factors that affect the welfare of a society, and how are these factors measured? (7) Which factors cause economic growth? and (8) How have the relations between economic units been developed over time? In the following we denote a definition by the symbol §. §: By an economy we understand a society from the point of view of its economic structure. ˘ §: A good is the term applied to material and non-material products. ˘ A good is thus a shirt, a radio set, a meal in a restaurant, a bottle of wine, a haircut, a soccer game, etc. © The Author(s) 2017 M. Estola, Newtonian Microeconomics, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-46879-2_1 1 2 Newtonian Microeconomics §: By consumption we understand the eating or using up of something of value, or the enjoyment of the services of a durable good. ˘ §: By a durable good we understand a good that produces services for its holder during several time units, and which usually has a positive scrap value. ˘ §: By production we understand the process where the inputs of material and labor are used in the construction of goods. ˘ §: Labor consists of the physical and mental work of people in the production of goods. ˘ §: An economic unit is a decision-making unit that consists of one person or a group of people that behave together as one unit.
eBook - PDFEconomics For Dummies
Book + Chapter Quizzes Online
- Sean Masaki Flynn(Author)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- For Dummies(Publisher)
1 Economics: The Science of How People Deal with Scarcity IN THIS PART . . . Find out what economics is, what economists do, and why these things are important. Decipher how people decide what brings them the most happiness. Understand how goods and services are produced, how resources are allocated, and the roles of government and the market. CHAPTER 1 What Economics Is and Why You Should Care 7 Chapter 1 What Economics Is and Why You Should Care E conomics studies how people and societies make decisions that allow them to get the most from their limited resources. And because every country, every business, and every person has to deal with constraints, economics is every- where. At this very moment, for example, you could be doing something other than reading this book. You could be grueling through your hundredth pushup, bingeing the hottest series on Netflix, or texting with that friend you reconnected with at your last reunion. You should only be reading this book if doing so is the best possible use of your limited time. In the same way, you should hope that the resources used to create this book have been put to their best use and that every dollar your government spends is being managed in the best possible way. Economics gets to the heart of these issues by analyzing the behavior of individu- als, firms, governments, and other social and political institutions to see how well they convert humanity’s limited resources into the goods and services that would best satisfy needs and wants. IN THIS CHAPTER » Taking a quick peek at economic history » Observing how people cope with scarcity » Separating macroeconomics from microeconomics » Getting a grip on economic graphs and models
eBook - PDFGames and Human Behavior
Essays in Honor of Amnon Rapoport
- David V. Budescu, Ido Erev, Rami Zwick, David V. Budescu, Ido Erev, Rami Zwick(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
There are eight basic assumptions. In each case we highlight the contrast between the traditional views of psychologists and economists and examine the degree to which recent research managed to reduce the gap between the two disciplines in this context. Before reviewing the differences between economics and psychology it is instructive to speculate on their origin. In our opinion, the two disciplines have distinct views on human choice behavior simply because they examine the same behavior from different perspectives that are dictated by their respective scopes and interests. Psychology is usually defined as the study of the thought processes and behaviors of humans and other animals in their interactions with their environments. Among other things, psychologists study sensory perception, emotion, motivation, problem solving, use of language and other mental tasks, group interaction, adjustment to social and physical environments, and the normal and abnormal development of these processes. Economics is traditionally considered to be the study of how human beings allocate resources to produce various commodities and how those goods are distributed for consumption among all members of a society. A basic tenet of economic theory is that resources are scarce, or at least limited, and that not all human needs and desires can be met. A major concern of economists is how to distribute these resources in the most efficient and equitable way. This volume focuses on the domain where the two disciplines intersect -the study of human choice behavior. As the previous definitions indicate, this domain is but a small subset of their respective topics of inquiry. The tendency in every scientific field is to adopt assumptions and methodologies that apply to the largest possible number of content subareas (in fact, the boundaries of a discipline are delineated by the commonalties underlying all its subdomains).
eBook - ePubFrom Economics Imperialism to Freakonomics
The Shifting Boundaries between Economics and other Social Sciences
- Ben Fine, Dimitris Milonakis(Authors)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
7 Economics confronts the social sciences Resistance or smooth progression? At a time when the King of England claimed to be also King of France, he was not always welcome in Paris. The claim that economics is the science of human choice will not be enough to cause sociologists, political scientists, and lawyers to abandon their field or, painfully, to become economists. Ronald Coase (1978, p. 207) It is perhaps not surprising if economists do not know much about precolonial African economies or the classics of economic anthropology. But what is astonishing – at least to me – is how many of them do not know anything about, say, European economic history, or have never read Marx or Max Weber – or even Smith, Ricardo, Schumpeter, or Keynes. James Ferguson (2000, p. 996) 1 Introduction In previous chapters, casual reference has been made to the new phase of economics imperialism as a revolution in thought. In Section 2 of this chapter, this is not so much justified as set aside as simply serving as a dramatic, if deliberate, attention-seeking label. The substantive issue is what has happened between economics and the other social sciences. For this, a simple label will not suffice either for overall assessment or as a framework for more detailed case studies by subject matter or discipline. Yet, in Section 2, it is argued that the notion of revolution for the latest round of economics imperialism does at least have the advantage of highlighting that it is economics that is doing much more to the other social sciences rather than vice-versa
eBook - PDF- G. Steele(Author)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
Unlike physical matter, which is presumed to conform to universal structures (laws), the pre- sumption for the human sciences is quite different. Psycho-biological and 88 The Economics of Friedrich Hayek socio-historical processes are evolved systems; and memory is critical to all systems that follow a path of evolutionary adaptation. Although constrained by the universal laws of physical science, there is a vital ancestral heritage that brings uniquely evolutionary aspects to human science; that is to biol- ogy, neurology, psychology and social science. By reason of their superior use- fulness, a series of evolutionary path-dependent adaptations – modifications of physiological, behavioural and organisational characteristics – are selected and preserved (both genetically and institutionally) by way of trial, selection, retention and replication. Economic facts and economic theory Scarcity is the definitional characteristic of economic resources that are contin- uously and simultaneously in the process of being discovered and exhausted. The economic problem is to make the best use of dispersed knowledge so as best to coordinate human activity and to make efficient use of scarce resources. Economics is the study of acts of choice made necessary by the scarcity of means. Although economics is concerned with the way in which men behave towards other men and material objects, it cannot explain individual human action. Economics cannot establish laws of behaviour for individuals; but behaviour can be categorised to form elements from which theoretical models are constructed. The general factual assumptions upon which economic theory is constructed are of the kind that people engage in trade to earn an income; that a higher income is preferred to a smaller one; and so on. These assumptions permit ‘hypothetical predictions’ of patterns that are both testable and valu- able, and which can point to important guidelines for either action or no action.
eBook - PDFPhilosophy of Poverty
The System of Economic Contradictions
- (Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- The Floating Press(Publisher)
This it is necessary to make clearer by a few examples, before entering fully upon the examination of political economy. 2—Inadequacy of theories and criticisms. We will record first an important observation: the contending parties agree in acknowledging a common authority, whose support each claims,— science. Plato, a utopian, organized his ideal republic in the name of science, which, through modesty and euphemism, he called philosophy. Aristotle, a practical man, refuted the Platonic utopia in the name of the same philosophy. Thus the social war has continued since Plato and Aristotle. The modern socialists refer all things to science one and indivisible, but without power to agree either as to its content, its limits, or its method; the economists, on their side, affirm that social science in no wise differs from political economy. It is our first business, then, to ascertain what a science of society must be. Science, in general, is the logically arranged and systematic knowledge of that which is. Applying this idea to society, we will say: Social science is the logically arranged and systematic knowledge, not of that which 53 society has been, nor of that which it will be, but of that which it is in its whole life; that is, in the sum total of its successive manifestations: for there alone can it have reason and system. Social science must include human order, not alone in such or such a period of duration, nor in a few of its elements; but in all its principles and in the totality of its existence: as if social evolution, spread throughout time and space, should find itself suddenly gathered and fixed in a picture which, exhibiting the series of the ages and the sequence of phenomena, revealed their connection and unity. Such must be the science of every living and progressive reality; such social science indisputably is.
eBook - PDF- Niklas Luhmann, Stephen Holmes, Charles Larmore, Stephen Holmes, Charles Larmore(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Columbia University Press(Publisher)
9 The Economy as a Social System i The idea of treating the economy as a system of social interaction seems at first glance to be plausible, reasonable, even obvious. However, with a second look, considerable difficulties come to light. With one important exception (Parsons and Smelser 1956), no sociological theory has claimed to interpret the economy as a whole. Theories that try to understand society itself as an economic enterprise for the organization of production and for the distribution of mutual benefits fail to accomplish this task. Generally, sociolo-gists believe that they can turn economic research over to the econ-omists. Furthermore, the very concept of a system is still in need of adequate clarification. On the one hand, there is the familiar, traditional European way of describing a whole as more than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, there is the tendency, which goes back to the late Middle Ages, of construing a system as a logically consistent network of relations. 1 This second interpreta-tion seems to be prevalent in economics. For the aims of sociology, however, both approaches are probably insufficient: the first is too unclear, while the second is too clear to be applicable to highly complex, self-constituting contexts of meaningful interaction. We might well suspect that these difficulties are connected and that through a recasting of the fundamental concepts involved they THE ECONOMY AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM 191 could be, if not removed, then at any rate placed in a more favorable research-context. One important indication of this comes from re-cent sociological work on the social system of politics. The tradi-tional European theory of politics was a theory of politically con-stituted society.
eBook - PDF- D. Ross(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
I think it is true that if the social scientist’s fundamental box of tools includes game theory and if strategies of game players are interpreted on the basis of an externalist philosophy of intentionality as described in Chapter 4, then in a highly abstract sense the social sciences are duly unified. But we cannot be content to stop with such elevated conceptual pronouncements. This is like announcing that all sciences are unified by the recognition that they all model real statistical patterns (Ladyman and Ross 2012). That is correct, but it is mere philosophy. Making the philosophical point scientifically relevant requires attention to method- ological issues. Economics and psychology are unified at the purely philosophical level of analysis but remain separate disciplines because they are methodologically distinct and aim to explain different aspects of social reality. By contrast, economics and sociology study the same subject matter and their remaining methodological differences are only institutional. The key methodological ambiguity that arises when sociological theorists debate their relationship to economics centers around the centrality of markets in economics. I have been insisting throughout this Economics as a Social Science 283 book that market structures and processes are the basic subject matter of economics. Thus sociologists such as Martin (2009) who consider it crucial that their subject matter transcends markets will be immediately skeptical concerning my claims about disciplinary unification. A useful way of getting straight to the heart of this issue is to focus on conflicting interpretations of one of the great general methodological treatises in sociology, James Coleman’s Foundations of Social Theory (1990). Coleman explicitly constructs sociology as the science of gener- alized social exchange.
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