History of Economic Thought, 3rd Edition by E.K. Hunt

The distinction between the problems of allocating resources among uses and of achieving their full use corresponds very roughly to the distinction between the two main branches of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Most modern market economies experience periods in which large quantities of resources are idle-particularly labor and plant capacity-so that the principal question is not in what way to use them, but how to put them to any use at all. However, the framework has a serious shortcoming: it does not encompass the problem of depression, or the inadequacy of aggregate demand. Much of the work of the discipline can be fitted into this framework, and no other comes so close to accommodating all of it. It is the social science that deals with the ways in which men and societies seek to satisfy their material needs and desires, since the means at their disposal do not permit them to do so completely. For guides to major fields not summarized in single articles, see the entries under Agriculture Industrial organization Money Public finance and Labor economics.Įconomics, according to a widely accepted definition, is the study of the allocation of scarce re-sources among unlimited and competing uses. For articles giving an overview of some of the major fields of economics, see Econometrics Economic growth Economic thought History, article on economic history Income and employment theory International trade and Welfare economics.

References to specific topics in economics will be found throughout this article. Organization and growth of the profession

History of Economic Thought, 3rd Edition by E.K. Hunt