Economics is a social science that studies society’s allocation of scarce resources to meet desires and wants. Economics therefore starts from the premise that resources are in limited supply and that it is necessary to choose between competing alternatives.

Economics is “positive” when it attempts to explain the consequences of different choices and “normative” when it prescribes a certain route of action. Aspects receiving particular attention in economics are trade, resource allocation and competition.

Unlike most social sciences, economics can involve advanced mathematics, although the basics of economics can be taught with no more than simple arithmetic and graphs. Mathematical economics has developed as a field in itself.

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