What is Economics?

System

vivatifosi wrote: »

I would not mind if there were separate economics and house prices forums, though wonder if they would get enough traffic.

.

Lumping them together is perhaps ironically symptomatic of the economy's main problem :-
The economy IS house price inflation.

It used to be "Funding the sterling balances", then it became "The balance of payments", then "British Leyland".

Now no one cares a fig about any of them, and it is "House prices".

mwpt

Yup. Debt fueled economy needs somewhere to create the debt, expand money and grow GDP. House prices fit the bill nicely, they're in the British psyche.

Formal definition for economics is useful but freakonomics shows economics governs nearly everything in life. Pretty broad topic and make for a really interesting forum where for the most part the posters here self moderate.

zagubov

I empathise. I'm a Biologist (as we all know). I can say exactly that it's the study of life (and living things).

Once you ask what's life? That's a lot trickier and it has changed with time.

Ernst Mayer wrote a book called "What Makes Biology Unique" in which he discusses the different layers of phenomena that constitute life in his 100+ years of experiencing it. It's not reducible to physical science and it's a lot less able to make predictions.

I'll read this thread avidly and will see if we can define economics in an understandable way.;)

globalds

The economy is also Robots , Zombies and Apocalypses.

Perhaps you have upset something not someone ..When they tell you they are "not a moderator " ..Perhaps they are trying to explain that you are speaking to a Bot.

The machines have seen you as a real and present threat Gen ..
Best not open the door to strangers

Generali

Economics is traditionally defined as being the way that we choose to allocate resources in a constrained world.

zagubov

If it's any consolation, a friend who taught sociology used to say that when it came to the ability to predict future outcomes, if meteorology was a science then sociology deserved to be one.

ging84

I think this section of the forum really needs to be left alone, it does not need to be moderated for anything other than abuse

I saw your thread that got moved and i can only imagine it was moved by someone who doesn't regularly view this forum and has not been following your series of or robot zombie apocalypses, or a bureaucrat who likes to find a reason to move things around.
The thread's connection to economics might have been weak at best, but it was probably even less appropriate to stick it in another forum

princeofpounds

Tim Worstall has a nice line on this subject.


I'm going to paraphrase heavily, but he talks about economics as being largely a study of human interaction, and markets as the venue that happens.


I suppose that definition strays into politics and sociology (and perhaps it should), but I think it encompasses a lot of what is needed; the utility function (the 'ur-motivation' of economic man) is certainly not commercial alone in nature, even if the methods used to try to meet it are often commercial.

michaels

Certainly nothing to do with economics here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34883224

7-8c per kwh for 24/7 solar thermal electric, pv at $50 for kw making sense subsidy free in the uk.....

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

If it's any consolation, a friend who taught sociology used to say that when it came to the ability to predict future outcomes, if meteorology was a science then sociology deserved to be one.

I always feel that economics shouldn't be considered to be a predictive tool as it is so very bad at it.

What it is very good at is being a tool for analysing what is happening.