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economics (Q8134) social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services Economics is a social science that studies how rational individuals, groups, and organizations (called economic actors, players, or agents), manage scarce resources which have alternative uses, to achieve desirable ends. On the one hand, the continuous interplay done by these economic actors in all markets set the prices for all goods and services which make the rational managing of scarce resources possible in the first place. And on the other hand the decisions taken by the same agents, while pursuing their own interest, determine the level of output (production), consumption, savings and investment in an economy, as well as the remuneration paid to the owners of labor,capital and land.

The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, "management of a household, administration") from οἶκος (oikos, "house") and νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)".[1] Political economy was the earlier name for the subject, but economists in the late 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.[2]

A focus of the subject is how economic agents behave or interact and how economies work. Consistent with this, a primary textbook distinction is between microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics examines the behavior of basic elements in the economy, including individual agents (such as households and firms or as buyers and sellers) and markets, and their interactions. Macroeconomics analyzes the entire economy and issues affecting it, including unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy.

Other broad distinctions include those between positive economics (describing "what is") and normative economics (advocating "what ought to be"); between economic theory and applied economics; between rational and behavioral economics; and between mainstream economics (more "orthodox" and dealing with the "rationality-individualism-equilibrium nexus") and heterodox economics (more "radical" and dealing with the "institutions-history-social structure nexus").[3][4]

Economic analysis may be applied throughout society, as in business, finance, health care, and government, but also to such diverse subjects as crime,[5] education,[6] the family, law, politics, religion,[7] social institutions, war,[8] and science.[9] At the turn