Economics

Face-to-face trading on the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor.

Economics is a social science concerned with how society produces, allocates, and consumes goods and services.

Issues in economics

Economics deals with a large number of issues:

Theory of value: What are things worth? Why are they worth what they're worth?
Economic justice: What is a "fair" distribution of resources in a society?
Economic prosperity: What policies encourage economic growth and development?
Economic prediction: What can the economic realities today tell us about the economic realities of tomorrow?

There are a number of different "theories of value," each of which seek to explain what things are worth.

Labor theory of value: Goods and services are worth the total labor necessary to acquire them;
Randian theory of value: Value derives from the objective realities of an individual's situation, and reasonable goals on the part of the individual;
Subjective theories of value: value is created and determined by subjective demand and scarcity

There are a number of different views on which economic outcomes are "just;"

Laissez-faire capitalism: The idea that economic outcomes are just when individuals are free to make economic decisions without interference from government, or violation of property rights;
Egalitarianism: The idea that economic outcomes are just when all individuals do similar amounts of work, and receive similar pay;
Marxism: The idea that economic outcomes are just when individuals produce according to their abilities and consume according to their needs;

Economics is a very broad discipline, and involves the following other disciplines as well:

Moral philosophy: How ought a society produce and distribute goods and services?
Psychology: What principles underlie human economic decision-making?
Mathematics: What mathematical models can predict economic outcomes?
Ecology: What economic policies and practices are ecologically sustainable?

Microeconomics: the study of economic decisions in individual people, businesses, and markets;
Macroeconomics: the study of economic dynamics and policies in an entire economy

It is generally accepted that the formal study of economics began with the Scotsman Adam Smith, in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The origins of the field however, lie in the banking industry, which has developed over thousands of years.^{[Citation Needed]}