Economia

As I refresh my knowledge on the vast, yet somehow focused subject that is economics, I’ve often wondered whether I could answer what the hell economics actually is off the top of my head. When I think about it, I’ve actually studied Economics at O-Levels, and recently, A-Levels, and am about to embark upon a mathematically-intensive economics degree in some university in September 2006. A question as basic as this should be second nature. Yes… should.

But while this topic is probably the very first one any economics student will encounter, few actually pay attention to it in lectures, or bother to even glance at the corresponding topic in textbooks. Heck, I know I didn’t bother at least. To me, economics, then, was an academic subject of its own, separate from history and moral studies (unlike pre-Smith and Marshallian times), that focused exclusively on everything money-related. Yes, this is the most oft-used, yet incomplete definition applied to economics.

So, what is economics?