1.1.1 Definition of economics

Economics is the social science that studies how individuals, businesses, governments, and societies allocate their scarce resources to satisfy unlimited human wants and needs. It is concerned with understanding how people make decisions and choices when faced with limited resources, and how these decisions impact the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
The core principles of economics revolve around the concepts of supply and demand, opportunity cost, incentives, market structures, and efficiency. Economists analyze and model various economic behaviors, interactions, and outcomes using theories, mathematical models, and empirical data.
Economics is a broad field with several sub-disciplines, including microeconomics, which focuses on individual economic agents like consumers and firms, and macroeconomics, which deals with the economy as a whole, including issues such as inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. Additionally, there are specialized areas within economics, such as international economics, labor economics, environmental economics, and development economics, which explore specific aspects of economic activity and policies.