Definitions of economics

There are a variety of modern definitions of economics. Some of the differences may reflect evolving views of the subject itself or different views among economists.

The earlier term for 'economics' was political economy. It is adapted from the French Mercantilist usage of économie politique, which extended economy from the ancient Greek term for household management to the national realm as public administration of the affairs of state. Sir James Steuart (1767) wrote the first book in English with 'political economy' in the title, explaining that just as:

The title page gave as its subject matter "population, agriculture, trade, industry, money, coin, interest, circulation, banks, exchange, public credit and taxes".

The philosopher Adam Smith (1776) defines the subject as "an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations," in particular as:

J.B. Say (1803), distinguishing the subject from its public-policy uses, defines it as the science of production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. On the satirical side, Thomas Carlyle (1849) coined 'the dismal science' as an epithet for classical economics, in this context, commonly linked to the pessimistic analysis of Malthus (1798).John Stuart Mill (1844) defines the subject in a social context as:

The shift from the social to the individual level appears within the main works of the Marginal Revolution. Carl Menger's definition reflects the focus on the economizing man:

William Stanley Jevons, another very influential author of the Marginal Revolution defines economics highlighting the hedonic and quantitative aspects of the science:

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