Exegesis & Scientific Aspects

The economics is the social science that studies how people interact with value; in particular, the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Economy is derived from Greek from οἶκος “house” and νόμος “management”, νέμω “distribute, allocate”, νέμoμαι  ‘manage’, surface analysis eco- +‎ -nomy.  

Economy is borrowed from Latin oeconomia, from Ancient Greek οἰκονομία “management or administration of a household”.

The first recorded sense of the word economy, found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is “the management of economic affairs”, in this case, of a Monastery.   

Economics investigates the rational handling of scarce resources,  resources that are only available to a limited extent and which have an economic value for actors.

Adam Smith (1776), defined what was then called economy 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 objectives of providing] a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people... [and] to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue for the public services.’

Smith, Adam (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. and Book IV, as quoted in Groenwegen, Peter (2008). ‘Political Economy’. In Durlauf, Steven N.; Blume, Lawrence E. (eds.). The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (second ed.). pp. 476–480.

Jean-Baptiste Say (1803), defines economics as the science of production, distribution, and consumption of wealth.

Say, Jean Baptiste (1803). A Treatise on Political Economy. Grigg and Elliot. 

John Stuart Mill (1844) defines the subject in a social context as: ‘ ' The science which traces the laws of such of the phenomena of society as arise from the combined operations of mankind for the production of wealth, in so far as those phenomena are not modified by the pursuit of any other object ’

Mill, John Stuart (2007) [1844]. ‘ On the Definition of Political Economy; and on the Method of Investigation Proper to It ’. Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy. Cosimo.

Alfred Marshall provides a definition in Principles of Economics (1890) that extends analysis beyond wealth and from the societal to the microeconomic level: ‘Economics is a study of man in the ordinary business of life. It enquires how he gets his income and how he uses it. Thus, it is on the one side, the study of wealth and on the other and more important side, a part of the study of man.’

Marshall, Alfred (1890). Principles of Economics. Macmillan and Company. pp. 1–2.

Lionel Robbins (1932) developed  the most commonly accepted current definition : Economics is a science which studies human  behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.

Robbins, Lionel (2007) [1932]. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 15

Economic definition reflects the direction toward which the economist researcher believes economics is evolving, or should evolve.