Economics cannot be mentioned without mentioning the man who first coined the word, yes I am talking about the great Aristotle who first coined word economics from a Greek word "oikos" or "okious" which means household and "nomikos" which means management so combining the two words together "oikonomikos" we can equally say that economics is the study of household management, but of course that is during the Greeks period. Economics undergoes some changes over the centuries of which it began with the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.
1. The philosopher Adam Smith(1776) defines the subject as "an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations,"
in particular as:a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator [with the twofold objective of providing] a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people ... [and] to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue for the public services. This definition was largely criticised by scholars, some even went as far as calling it a dismal science, well that might be a little harsh but what can we say Smith gave the signal as that. The next scholar that restore economics to the top of the social science discipline was non other than Alfred Mashall.
2.Alfred Marshall provides a still widely cited definition in his textbookPrinciples of Economics(1890) that extends analysis beyond wealthand from the societal to the microeconomic level, creating a certain synthesis of the views of those still more sympathetic with the classical political economy (with social wealth focus) and those early adopters of the views expressed in the Marginal Revolution (with individual needs focus). Marshall's inclusion of the expression wellbeing was also very significant to the discussion on the nature of economics:Political Economy or Economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and with the use of the material requisites of wellbeing. Thus it is on the one side a study of wealth; and on the other, and more important side, a part of the study of man. Although Marshall's definition was good but it lacks some basics of which he fails to classify materials and immaterial want. But not to worry another economic hero arose and gave a most respectable definition of economics who goes by the name Lionel C. Robinson.
3. Lionel Robbins(1932) developed implications of what has been termed "perhaps the most commonly accepted current definition of the subject":Economics is a science which studies human behaviouras a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.Robbins describes the definition as not classificatory in "picking out certain kinds of behaviour" but rather analytical in "focusing attention on a particular aspect of behaviour, the form imposed by the influence ofscarcity."Some subsequent comments criticized the definition as overly broad in failing to limit its subject matter to analysis of markets. From the 1960s, however, such comments abated as the economic theory of maximizing behavior and rational-choice modeling expanded the domain of the subject to areas previously treated in other fields.There are other criticisms as well, such as in scarcity not accounting for the macroeconomics of high unemployment. Of course Robinson almost comes up with the perfect definition of economics, but like the others he also fail as his definition is mainly focused on the micro aspect of the economics and failing to look into the macro aspect. What all these blabs mean is that he fail to mention growth in his definition.
4. Samuelson’s Final and Compromise Definition:Perhaps the most acceptable definition comes from Paul Samuelson.According to him, “Economics is the study of how men and society end up choosing with or without the use of money to employ scarce productive resources that could have alternative uses to produce various commodities and distribute them for consumption, now or in the future, among various people and groups in the society. It analyses the costs and benefits of improving pattern of resource allocation”. As you can see this definition touches all aspects of Economics, and it combines Smith, Marshall and Robinson definition, that is what I will like to call the almighty definition of Economics.
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