“A social science concerned with proper uses and allocation of resources for the achievement and maintenance of growth with stability”

Or

“It is an art of analyzing, recording, interpretation and communicating the results of economic transaction.”

Or

“Economic is a social science concerned chiefly with way the societies chooses to employ its limited recourses, which have alternative uses to produce goods and services for present ant future consumption”

Or

“Economics is the study of how solidifies uses scare recourses to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different groups.”

Views of Economists

According to Adam Smith: “Economic is science of wealth.”

According to J.S.Smith: He supports the definition of Adam Smith.” Economic is the practical science of production and distribution of wealth.”

According to J.E Cairnes: “Economics deal with phenomena of wealth.”

Adven Canon: “The aim of political economy is explanations of general causes on which the material welfare of human being depend.”

According to Marshall: “Economics is study of man’s action in ordinary business of life, it Enquirer how he gets his income and how he spent it. Thus it is on the on the other and more important side, a part of study of man.”

In this definition the expression “man’s’ action in ordinary business of life refers to the facts that economic studies the activities of real, social and normal human beings.

While the expression” how he get income and how he spend it indicates the study of wealth. Marshall doesn’t indicate the nature of science. He maintained that economic is positive science.

According to Robbins: “Economics is science which studies human behavior as a relationship b/w ends and scare means whish have alternative uses.”

Explanation

The economists to explain the meaning of economics, which will be probably, proceed as follows,

Economics studies only those activities, which are directly related to wealth:

Men have wants. Some wants are elemental and very pressing like the want of food and water; other are less urgent, e.g., the want for a car or a beautiful bungalow. All these of different kinds as they are, have to be satisfied. Faced by this problem, men are driven to work in factories and fields, schools and offices, so that they may earn money by which they may purchase the article of their desire. All human activities related to wealth (mean to satisfy human wants directly) constitute the subject –matter of economics. That’s why they are called “ economic activities”.

It studies only human activities: Economics is concerned with the activities of human beings only, and not with those of other creatures. Other creatures either make efforts themselves with a view to satisfy their wants but they are much below human beings in mental power in intelligence and mental ability. Therefore their activities are not studied in economics. It studies the activities of only those Human beings who are social, real and normal:

Economics is positive, Normative and Applied science: It should be remembered that Economics is science and science can be divided in three groups.

Positive science: This establishes relation b/w causes and effects.

Normative science: this setup idea.

Applied science: This prescribed rules for guide ness.

Economics is science of all these three types.

It is positive science because it shows the connection b/w causes and effects of economic phenomena. It is normative science because it sets up ideas concerning wealth. It is applied science because it prescribed rules for achievement of material prosperity.

Therefore the correct definition of economics is that in which above four points must be mentioned.

“ It is positive, normative and applied science which studies those activities of social, real and normal human beings, that are related to wealth“.