With the development of knowledge and science, the sphere of economics has grown as well. As a combination of the knowledge of economics from both the past and the present, economics, as a discipline is now much developed or enriched. Among those who have presented economics as a subject or discipline, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill think of economics as a science of wealth. This trend of economics is known as classical economics.
Definition of Economics Given by Adam Smith: "Economics is a science that explores the nature and reason of the wealth of the nations." 'Economics grows centring wealth or resources. So, to acquire resources is the main purpose of man's economic activities. The weakness of Smith's definition lies in: 1. How economics would satiate man's unlimited wants by means of limited resources, there is no mention to that in this definition.
2. Although resources have been emphasized in this definition, man and his activities have been ignored. 3. To acquire resources have been given importance, whereas by which means resources can be acquired, that has not been referred to.
4. In this definition, resources stand for goods, but there is no mention of services.
Definition of Economics Given by Professor Marshall: Marshall emphasizes more on human welfare than resources. He says, "Economics discusses the general activities of human life." The prior topics of discussion of economics are income of man and the expenditure of that money for the purpose of satisfying wants. That means, the main Introduction to Economics purpose of economics is to accomplish human welfare. Marshall has only discussed about the accomplishment of human welfare in real life. Nowadays, the problem of scarcity is the main problem of economics. In Marshall's definition, this basic problem of the humans has not been taken into consideration.
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