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| | [[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 [[production]], [[distribution]], and [[consumption]] 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.' <ref name="capitalism.net">http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm</ref> | + | '''Economics''' is the study of opportunity. More specifically, economics is the study of the opportunities made possible by the [[production]], [https://freeenterprisecenter.net/freedom-of-exchange distribution], and [[consumption]] 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.' <ref name="capitalism.net">http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm</ref> |
| | Economics attempts "to explain the way in which individuals interact with one another, to use their limited resources to satisfy their alternative ends." <ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#10</ref> | | Economics attempts "to explain the way in which individuals interact with one another, to use their limited resources to satisfy their alternative ends." <ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#10</ref> |
| | It is a social [[science]], concerned with how people produce, distribute, and consume. | | It is a social [[science]], concerned with how people produce, distribute, and consume. |
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| | ==Why it should be studied== | | ==Why it should be studied== |
| − | * Feelings pertaining to the alleged chaos of economic activity rest on ignorance of the knowledge economics provides of the benevolent role of such institutions as the [[division of labor]], [[private ownership]] of the [[means of production]], [[exchange and money]], [[economic competition]], and the [[price system]].<ref name="capitalism.net">http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm</ref> | + | * Feelings pertaining to the alleged chaos of economic activity rest on ignorance of the knowledge economics provides of the benevolent role of such institutions as the [[division of labor]], [https://freeenterprisecenter.net/freedom-of-ownership private ownership] of the [[means of production]], [[exchange and money]], [[economic competition]], and the [[price system]].<ref name="capitalism.net">http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/Economics%20and%20Capitalism.htm</ref> |
| | * The actual basis of "alienation" resides within the psychological makeup of those who experience the problem. Ignorance of economics reinforces feelings of [[alienation]] and allows the alleged deficiencies of the economic system to serve as a convenient rationalization for the existence of the problem [ibid] | | * The actual basis of "alienation" resides within the psychological makeup of those who experience the problem. Ignorance of economics reinforces feelings of [[alienation]] and allows the alleged deficiencies of the economic system to serve as a convenient rationalization for the existence of the problem [ibid] |
| | * [[Prepper]]s and [[survivalist]]s study economics to aid in being prepared for any potential [[depression]], [[recession]] or [[economic crash]]. | | * [[Prepper]]s and [[survivalist]]s study economics to aid in being prepared for any potential [[depression]], [[recession]] or [[economic crash]]. |