Changes

[[Image:NYSE-floor.jpg|right|thumb|Face-to-face trading on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]'s trading floor.]]

[[Image:NYSE-floor.jpg|right|thumb|Face-to-face trading on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]'s trading floor.]]

'''Economics''' is the study of opportunity.  More specifically, economics is the study of the opportunities made possible by the transfer of [[goods]] and services. 'Because of its primary application to government policy, it is understandable why the subject was originally known as political economy, which was its name from the time of [[Adam Smith]] to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when the change to "economics" took place.' [http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm]

'''Economics''' is the study of opportunity.  More specifically, economics is the study of the opportunities made possible by the transfer of [[goods]] and services. 'Because of its primary application to government policy, it is understandable why the subject was originally known as political economy, which was its name from the time of [[Adam Smith]] to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when the change to "economics" took place.' [http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm]

* Economics, as the science which studies the production of [[wealth]] under a system of division of labor, is actually the science which studies the production of wealth under [[capitalism]]. [http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm]

* Economics, as the science which studies the production of [[wealth]] under a system of division of labor, is actually the science which studies the production of wealth under [[capitalism]]. [http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm]

C. Lowell Harriss, a professor of economics at Columbia, describes economics as the study of the allocation of scarce goods and services.  In market economies, this is determined by [[supply and demand]].<ref> [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/business/13every.html?em&ex=1216440000&en=a9a6d3e97f11545f&ei=5087%0A Lessons in Love, by Way of Economics]</ref>

C. Lowell Harriss, a professor of economics at Columbia, describes economics as the study of the allocation of scarce goods and services.  In market economies, this is determined by [[supply and demand]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/business/13every.html?em&ex=1216440000&en=a9a6d3e97f11545f&ei=5087%0A Lessons in Love, by Way of Economics]</ref>

==Why we should study it==

==Why we should study it==

== History of economics==

== History of economics==

''Main article: [[History of economics]]''

{{Main|History of economics}}

Economic thought originated with the rise of the state.  Classical economics, or the long-run model, was articulated by [[Adam Smith]] and has since fomented the rise of free-market capitalism in economic thought.<ref>http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/</ref>

Economic thought originated with the rise of the state.  Classical economics, or the long-run model, was articulated by [[Adam Smith]] and has since fomented the rise of free-market capitalism in economic thought.<ref>http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/</ref>