The term economics was derived from the Greek word oikonomia (which means household management).
The science of economics was born in Adam Smith book, an enquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations published in 1776.
Economics is a science which deals with human beings how they earn money and how they spend it.
To understand the meaning of nature and scope of economics it is imperative to analyse.
DEFINITION OF ECONOMICS
Wealth Definition, welfare definition and scarcity definition.
1. Wealth Definition
Adam Smith is the father of Economics and defined as the science of wealth. According to him economics was regarded as the science which studied production and consumption of wealth and it deals with accusation, accumulation and expenditure of wealth.
2.Welfare Definition
Alfred Marshall was the first economist who shifted the emphasize from wealth to wealthing. According to him economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life it examine the part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and use of the material requirements of wellbeing.
3.Scarcity Definition
Lionel Robbins not only criticized Alfred Marshall's welfare definition but also created the new definition in his book "The natural and significance of economic science" in the year published in 1932. According to him economics is a science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.
Since wants are unlimited and means to satisfy them are scarce. We have to choose the most urgent wants form the numerous ones and this is the economic problem which is essential.