Economy is the art of making most of life.
- George Bernard Shaw
Economics is the study of mankind in the ordinary business
of life.
- Alfred Marshall
Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as
a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative
uses.
- Lionel Robbins
Economics comes in whenever more of one thing means less of
another.
- Fritz Machlup
The theory of economics is a method rather than a doctrine,
an apparatus of mind, a technique of thinking, which helps
its possessor to draw correct conclusions.
- John Maynard Keynes
Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources to satisfy
unlimited human wants.
- Richard Lipsey
The above attempts to define the discipline of economics in a short, concise sentence indicate that the discipline has both individual and social dimensions. The discipline straddles the areas of arts and science, of theory and policy, and provides a fascinating mechanism for interpreting human behaviour, individually and collectively.