History of economic thought: Difference between revisions

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imported>João Prado Ribeiro Campos
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imported>João Prado Ribeiro Campos
(Definition of Economics)
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Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The word 'economics' is from the Greek for οἶκος (oikos: house) and νόμος (nomos: custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)."
Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The word 'economics' is from the Greek for οἶκος (oikos: house) and νόμος (nomos: custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)."


Origin of Economics take its roots in the natural propensity of human beings to barter, to exchange or trade goods. Whilst there are no records of dogs ever having bartered bones, men has been bartering since pre-history.   
Origin of Economics take its roots in the natural propensity of human beings to barter, to exchange or trade goods. Whilst there are no records of dogs ever having bartered bones, men has been bartering all sorts of goods since pre-history.   


Economics as a political science and as we understand the word today, begins with the work of Adam Smith, ''The Wealth of teh Nations''. <ref name=WEALTH> SIMTH, Adam. ''Wealth of the Nations, The''. Modern Library, 1ª edition, 2000, ISBN 0679783369</ref>.  
Economics as an independent science, and as we understand the word today, begins with the work of Adam Smith, ''The Wealth of the Nations''. <ref name=WEALTH> SIMTH, Adam. ''Wealth of the Nations, The''. Modern Library, 1ª edition, 2000, ISBN 0679783369</ref>.
 
Before Smith, Economics was a chapter in political science, the art of managing a State. The list of acceptable definitions for Economics is enourmous. Economics is the study of those activities which, with or without money, involve exchange transactions among people. Economics is also the study of wealth. Several other definitions are acceptable <ref name=ECONOMICS> SAMUELSON, Paul Anthony e  NORDHAUS, William D.''Economics''. McGraw Hill Professional, 18ª edition, 2004, ISBN 0072872055</ref>
 
Paul Samuelson, in his famous book ''Economics - An Introductory Analysis'', defines Economics as:''"the study of how men and society 'choose', with or without the use of money, to employ 'scarce' productive resources to produce various commodities over time and distribute them for consumption, now an in the future, among various people and groups in society"'' <ref name=ECONOMICS> SAMUELSON, Paul Anthony e  NORDHAUS, William D.''Economics''. McGraw Hill Professional, 18ª edição, 2004, ISBN 0072872055</ref>
 


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 06:46, 16 March 2007

Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The word 'economics' is from the Greek for οἶκος (oikos: house) and νόμος (nomos: custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)."

Origin of Economics take its roots in the natural propensity of human beings to barter, to exchange or trade goods. Whilst there are no records of dogs ever having bartered bones, men has been bartering all sorts of goods since pre-history.

Economics as an independent science, and as we understand the word today, begins with the work of Adam Smith, The Wealth of the Nations. [1].

Before Smith, Economics was a chapter in political science, the art of managing a State. The list of acceptable definitions for Economics is enourmous. Economics is the study of those activities which, with or without money, involve exchange transactions among people. Economics is also the study of wealth. Several other definitions are acceptable [2]

Paul Samuelson, in his famous book Economics - An Introductory Analysis, defines Economics as:"the study of how men and society 'choose', with or without the use of money, to employ 'scarce' productive resources to produce various commodities over time and distribute them for consumption, now an in the future, among various people and groups in society" [2]


References

  1. SIMTH, Adam. Wealth of the Nations, The. Modern Library, 1ª edition, 2000, ISBN 0679783369
  2. 2.0 2.1 SAMUELSON, Paul Anthony e NORDHAUS, William D.Economics. McGraw Hill Professional, 18ª edition, 2004, ISBN 0072872055 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "ECONOMICS" defined multiple times with different content