What is Economics? - Saint Michael's College

Most simply put, economics is the study of making choices. We need economics because we as individuals and as a society experience scarcity (of raw materials, of goods and services, of time, and so on) in relationship to our ever-growing needs and wants. Economics examines how we make choices: a new car or college tuition? more hospitals or more highways? more free time or more income from work? It gives us a way of understanding how to make best use of natural resources, machinery, and people's work efforts. Economics helps us examine trade-offs between various goals and anticipate the outcomes of changes in governmental policies, company practices, or composition of the population, and so on. Almost all issues of public and private policy involve economics and so do your own individual choices.

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