what is economics 
economics is a social science that focuses on the production distribution and consumption of goods and services the study of economics is primarily concerned with analyzing the choices that individuals businesses governments and nations make to allocate limited resources economics has ramifications on a wide range of other fields including politics psychology business and law zoe hansen investopediaunderstanding economicsassuming humans have unlimited wants within a world of limited means economists analyze how resources are allocated for production distribution and consumption the study of microeconomics focuses on the choices of individuals and businesses and macroeconomics concentrates on the behavior of the economy on an aggregate level one of the earliest recorded economists was the 8th century b c greek farmer and poet hesiod who wrote that labor materials and time needed to be allocated efficiently to overcome scarcity the publication of adam smith s 1776 book an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations sparked the beginning of the current western contemporary economic theories 1microeconomicsmicroeconomics studies how individual consumers and firms make decisions to allocate resources whether a single person a household or a business economists may analyze how these entities respond to changes in price and why they demand what they do at particular price levels microeconomics analyzes how and why goods are valued differently how individuals make financial decisions and how they trade coordinate and cooperate within the dynamics of supply and demand the costs of producing goods and services and how labor is divided and allocated microeconomics studies how businesses are organized and how individuals approach uncertainty and risk in their decision making macroeconomicsmacroeconomics is the branch of economics that studies the behavior and performance of an economy as a whole its primary focus is recurrent economic cycles and broad economic growth and development it focuses on foreign trade government fiscal and monetary policy unemployment rates the level of inflation interest rates the growth of total production output and business cycles that result in expansions booms recessions and depressions using aggregate indicators economists use macroeconomic models to help formulate economic policies and strategies 