Understanding Discipline AND

School Subjects
Guided By:Asst.Prof.Jayashree
DhondeCourse : 106
Reshmi Rajan
Roll # 83
Academic year 2019-2020
 ECONOMICS AS A SUBJECT
One of the earliest recorded economic thinkers was the 8th-century
BC Greek farmer/poet Hesiod, who wrote that labor, materials, and
time needed to be allocated efficiently to overcome scarcity. But the
founding of modern Western economics occurred much later,
generally credited to the publication of Scottish philosopher Adam
Smith's 1776 book, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations.

The principle (and problem) of economics is that human beings

have unlimited wants and occupy a world of limited means. For this
reason, the concepts of efficiency and productivity are held
paramount by economists. Increased productivity and a more
efficient use of resources, they argue, could lead to a higher
standard of living.

Despite this view, economics has been pejoratively known as the

"dismal science," a term coined by Scottish historian Thomas
Carlyle in 1849. He used it to criticize the liberal views on race and
social equality of contemporary economists like John Stuart Mill,
though some sources suggest Carlyle was actually describing the
gloomy predictions by Thomas Robert Malthus that population
growth would always outstrip the food supply
 Economics is usually defined as a
social science concerned with
analyzing and describing the
production, distribution and
consumption of wealth

 Robbin’s Definition: More recently

and English economist Lionel Robbins
defines economics as the science
which describes human behavior as a
relationship between (given) end
scarce means which have alternative
uses.
Economics as a science: Before getting deep
into the context of this topic, firstly it is
significant to have an impression about science.
It is mainly defined as the systematic study that
signifies the cause and effect relationship. In
science, it is the collection of facts and figures
that should be analyzed correctly. Economics,
yet, is treated as a social science due to these
following features of science.
It depends on the systematic collection and
analysis of facts and figures. Likewise, in
economics, all the theories connected with
micro and macroeconomics is examined
carefully.
It is based on the formulation of theories and
laws,
Economics as an art: Now, the
question arises why nature of
economics is an art? According to the
Marshall, art is the application of
information and knowledge. As, in
economics, art acts as a solution to all
economic complications. Furthermore,
there are several terms in economics
like distribution, consumption, and
production that offer the guidelines to
us, that can be used to sort out the
economic problems in society.
Thus, from the above discussion, it can
be clearly said that the economics is
both a science and an art.
 Human Wants - Meaning
• Human wants are those things that people
desire to have above what they truly need
in order to live. And the wants that can be
satisfied with goods and servicesof any
kind are economic wants. Like for example
food ,shelter, clothing are economic
human wants.
 Wants are unlimited: Human wants are unlimited in number and there is no end
to them. ...
 Wants vary in nature: ...
 Wants differ in intensity: ...
 Wants are repetitive: ...
 Wants are progressive: ...
 Wants are competitive: ...
 Wants are also complementary: ...
 Wants are satiable:
of Human Wants
An economic or productive factor
required to accomplish an activity, or as
means to undertake an enterprise and
achieve desired outcome. Three most
basic resources are land, labor, and
capital; other resources include energy,
entrepreneurship, information, expertise,
management, and time.
In other words, they are the inputs that
are used to create things or help you
provide services. Economic
resources can be divided into
human resources, such as labor and
management, and
nonhuman resources, such as land,
capital goods, financial resources, and
technology
Scarcity refers to the basic economic problem, the gap between limited – that is,
scarce – resources and theoretically limitless wants. This situation requires people to
make decisions about how to allocate resources efficiently, in order to satisfy basic
needs and as many additional wants as possible.
Scarcity dictates that economic decisions must be made regularly in order to
manage the availability of resources to meet human needs.
Some examples of scarcity include: The gasoline shortage in the 1970's. ... Coal is
used to create energy; the limited amount of this resource that can be mined is
an example of scarcity.
This practical on understanding discipline and
school subject Economics and its sun units of
the detailed study of this particular topic has
given me a great opportunity to understand
about the aspect of teaching learning
process.As a future teachers ,we need to
always remember however that the
fundamental purpose of achievement of the
understanding of the topics covered in
Economics is to promote learning.