User:EconomicsLover

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services[1]. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, "management of a household, administration") from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)".[2] Political economy was the earlier term for the subject, but influential proponents in the latter 19th century suggested 'economics' as a shorter term for 'economic science' that also avoided a narrow political-interest connotation and as similar in form to 'mathematics', 'ethics', and so forth.[3] Economics aims to explain how economies work and how economic agents interact. Economic analysis is applied throughout society, in business, finance and government, but also in crime,[4] education,[5] the family, health, law, politics, religion,[6] social institutions, war,[7] and science.[8] At the turn of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.[9] Common distinctions are drawn between various dimensions of economics. The primary textbook distinction is between microeconomics, which examines the behavior of basic elements in the economy, including individual markets and agents (such as consumers and firms, buyers and sellers), and macroeconomics, which addresses issues affecting an entire economy, including unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy. Other distinctions include: between positive economics (describing "what is") and normative economics (advocating "what ought to be"); between economic theory and applied economics; between mainstream economics (more "orthodox" dealing with the "rationality-individualism-equilibrium nexus") and heterodox economics (more "radical" dealing with the "institutions-history-social structure nexus");[10] and between rational and behavioral economics.

[1] There are a wide variety of different definitions of economics - a popular alternative - is 'Economics is the study of how and why agents make decisions about the use of scarce resources' (from Field, Barry (1994), "Environmental economics: an introduction" McGraw-Hill, p. 3). [2] Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary – Economy". Retrieved October 27, 2007

[3] a b • Marshall, Alfred, and Mary Paley Marshall (1879). The Economics of Industry, Macmillan, p. 2. Jevons, W. Stanley (1879). The Theory of Political Economy, 2nd ed., Macmillan. p. xiv. [4] Friedman, David D. (2002). "Crime," The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.'.' Retrieved October 21, 2007. [5] The World Bank (2007). "Economics of Education.". Retrieved October 21, 2007. [6] Iannaccone, Laurence R. (1998). "Introduction to the Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, 36(3), pp. 1465–1495.. [7] Nordhaus, William D. (2002). "The Economic Consequences of a War with Iraq", in War with Iraq: Costs, Consequences, and Alternatives, pp. 51–85. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Cambridge, MA. Retrieved October 21, 2007. [8] Arthur M. Diamond, Jr. (2008). "science, economics of," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pre-publication cached ccpy. [9]a b • Lazear, Edward P. (2000|. "Economic Imperialism," Quarterly Journal Economics, 115(1)|, p p. 99–146. Cached copy. Pre-publication copy(larger print.) [10]• Becker, Gary S. (1976). The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Links to arrow-page viewable chapter. University of Chicago Press.

Microeconomics
Microeconomics is the study of economics analysing individual players of a market and the structure of such markets. It deals with, as its irreducible base unit, private, public and domestic players. Microeconomics studies how these players interact with each other through individual markets (assuming that there is a scarcity of tradable units and government regulation. A market might deal with a product (such as apples, aluminium and mobile phones), or with services of a factor of production, (brick laying, book printing, food packaging). Microeconomics theory considers the aggregates (the sum of) of quantity demanded by buyers and quantity supplied by sellers, studying each possible price per unit (i.e. supply and demand). It studies the complex interaction between market players both through buying and selling. Theory holds that markets may reach equilibrium between "quantity demanded" and "quantity supplied" (supply and demand) over time.

Is Finance a study about Economics
This is an interesting topic since Finance is definitely not a department within economics. And economist people tend to think finance as one of their deciplines. However, it's safe to say that two subjects are definitely related to each other. Only that they have different orientation. Finance cares about the flow of funding, while economics cares almost everything, including subjects of Finance.

Gold
Gold is a topic popular from both the economic and financial perspective. Gold reached unprecedented high august this year at 1900 dollars per month. That price 10 years ago was only 270 dollars per ounce. This kind of return, 175%, is astonishing and amazing.

Is Gold a currency or a commodity? Before deciding on the best trading strategy, one big question to answer is whether gold is a currency or a commodity. The quick answer is, not so much either way. Commodity, such as oil and gas, tends to move along in correlation with inflation. In other words, if the inflation rate continues rising, so does the commodity prices. However, that’s not the case with gold. Investors can see big rise in gold prices especially at depression period, coupled with unstable economic and political crisis. However, strictly speaking, gold is not a currency either. A currency should circulate around in an economy as an exchange medium, which we do not see in gold. The difficulty in categorizing gold makes it a unique financial product, the safe heaven investors would choose in all kinds crisis, an over-inflated economy, a depressing economy and a political-unstable economy. Look around, that’s exactly what see in the global economy. Developed rich countries refuse to cut their debt but others’ saving. Developing countries face domestic pressure and refuse to let go of currencies. The skyrocketing gold price, to me, is just an expression.