Economics

Definition

Economics

According to classical economist Adam Smith,

„Economics is an enquiry into the
nature & causes of wealth of nations.‟

According to neo-classical economist Professor Alfred Marshall,

„Economics is the study of mankind
in the ordinary business of life.‟

According to modern economist Lionel Robbins,

„Economics is a science which
studies human behavior as a relationship between ends & scarce means which
have alternative uses.‟

Micro Economics

According to Henderson & Quandt,

„Micro economics is the study of economic
action of individuals & well-defined groups of individuals.‟

According to Boulding,
„Micro economics is the study of particular
firm, particular household, individual price, wage, income, individual industry,
particular commodity.‟

According to O.M.Emoss,
„Micro economics is the branch of economics
that studies parts of economy.‟

Macro Economics

According to Henderson & Quandt,

„Macro economics is the study of broad
aggregates such as total employment & national income.‟

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According to Boulding,
„Macro economics deals not with individual
quantities as such but with the aggregates of these quantities, not with individual
income but with national income, not with individual price but with the price
level, not with individual output but with national output.‟

According to O.M.Emoss,
„Macro economics is the branch of economics that
studies the entire economy.‟

According to Latest economist Samuelson,

„There is really no opposition between
micro & micro economics. Both are absolutely vital. And you are half-educated if
you understand the one while being ignorant of the other.‟

Demand

According to Professor Benham,

„Demand for anything, at a given price is the
amount of it which will be bought per unit of time at that price.‟

According to Professor Bober,

„By demand we mean the various quantities of a
given commodity or service which consumers would buy in one market in a given
period of time at various prices, or at various incomes, or at various prices of
related goods.‟

Price elasticity of demand

According to Ryan,
„The responsiveness of the quantity demanded of
any goods to a change in its price is called price elasticity of demand.‟

Income elasticity of demand

sAccording to Professor Bober,

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„Income elasticity of demand means the

responsiveness of the reaction in the quantity of a commodity demanded to a
change in consumer‟s income.‟

Utility

According to Professor Meyers,

„Utility is the quality or capacity of a good which
enables it to satisfy human wants.‟

According to Professor Salvator,

„Utility is the Property of a commodity that
satisfies a want or need of a consumer.‟
Elasticity of demand

According to Professor Alfred Marshall,

„The degree of rapidity or slowness with
which demand changes with every change in price is known as elasticity of
demand.‟

According to Professor Lipsey,

„Elasticity of demand is the measure of the
responsiveness of the quantity demanded to changes in price.‟

Supply

According to Liebhafsky,
„The supply of an individual seller is defined as the
quantities of a given commodity which he stands ready to sell at all possible prices
at a given moment of time.‟

Elasticity of supply

According to Caironcross,
„Elasticity of supply refers to the degree of response
of the supply of a commodity to the change in its price.‟

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According to Professor Lipsey,

„Elasticity of supply is the measure of the change to
which the quantities supplied response to price change.‟

Perfect Competition

According to Spencer,
„Perfect competition is the name given to an industry or
to a market characterized by a large number of buyers & sellers all engaged in the
purchase & sale of a homogeneous commodity with perfect knowledge of market
prices & quantities, no discrimination & perfect mobility of resources.‟

According to Samuelson,
„This is a technical term which refers to a market in
which no firm or consumer is large enough to affect the market prices.‟

Market

According to Chapman,
„Economically interpreted the term market refers not to a
place but to a commodity or commodities, the buyers or sellers of which are in
competition with one another.‟

According to Samuleson,
„A market is a mechanism through which buyers &
sellers interact to set prices & exchange goods & services.‟

Market equilibrium

According to Liebhafsky,
„An equilibrium position is one from which there is no
tendency to move.‟

According to O.M. Emoss,

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„Market equilibrium occurs when the suppliers &

demanders come together & exchange mutually agreeable quantity at a mutually
agreeable price.‟

Money

According to Waker,
„Money is what money does.‟

According to G.D.Cole,
„Money is anything that is habitually & widely used as a
means of payment & is generally accepted in the settlement of debts.‟

According to Crowther,
„Money can be defined as anything that is generally
accepted as a means of exchange & at the same time acts as a measure & as a
store of value.‟

According to Robertson,
„Anything which is accepted in the payment of goods or in
discharge of all kinds of obligation is money.‟

Inflation

According to Coulborn,
„Too much money chases too few goods.‟

According to Pigou,
„Inflation exists when money income is expanding mpre
than in proportion to money earning activity.‟

According to Samuelson,
„By inflation we mean a time of generally rising prices
for goods & factors of production.‟

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Production

According to D.B.Sweets,
„Production is a system which helps man to turn nature‟s
gifts worthy of consumption.‟

According to Mr. Fraser,

„If consuming means extracting utility from, Production
means putting utility into.‟

Production function

According to Samuelson,
„Production function is the technical relationship telling
the amount of output capable of being produced by each & every set of specified
inputs.‟

According to Leontief,
„A Production function is a description of the quantities
relation between the inputs absorbed & the output emerging from a particular
production process.‟

Law of diminishing marginal return

According to Leontief,
„An increase in the capital & labour applied in the
cultivation of land causes in general a less than proportional increase in the
amount of production.‟

National income

According to Marshall,
“The labour & capital of a country acting on its
natural resources, produce annually a certain net aggregate of commodities,
material & immaterial including services of all kinds is called national income.”

According to Samuelson,

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“National income is the money measure of the

overall annual flow of goods & services in an economy.”

According to Pigou,
“National income is that part of objective income of
the community, including income from abroad which can be measured in money.”

According to Lipsey,
“National income refers to the total market value of
all the goods & services produced in the economy during some specific period of
time & to the total of all incomes earned over the same period of time.”

According to Simon Kuznets,

“National income is the net output of commodities
& services flowing during the year from the countries productive system in the
hands of the ultimate consumers.”

Importance of National income

According to Benham,
“The best way to get a general picture of the
economic life of a country is to study to detail estimate of its national income.”

According to Samuelson,
“By means of statistics of national income we can chart the
movements of a country from depression to prosperity, its steady long rate of
economic growth & development & finally its material standard of living in
comparison with other nations.”

Economic growth

According to W.A.Lewis,
“Economic growth is taking place if output is increasing
per hour of work done.”

Economic Development

According to Snieder,

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“Economic development refers to the long run or

secular increase in per capita productivity.”

According to Mayer & Baldwin,

“Economic development is a process whereby an
economy‟s real national income increases over a long period of time.”

Distinguish between economic growth & development

In the words of Kindleberger,

“Economic growth means more output, while
Economic development implies more output & changes in the technical &
institutional arrangements by which it is produced & distributed.”

Economic planning

According to Dickinson,
“Economic planning is the making of major economic
decisions-What & how much is to be produced to whom it is to be allocated by the
conscious decisions of a determinate authority on the basis to comprehensive
survey of the economic system as a whole.”

According to L.Robins,
“To plan is to act with a purpose to choose & choice is the
essence of economic activity.”

According to Barbara Wooton,

“Economic planning may be defined as the
conscious & deliberate choice of economic properties by some public authority.

Problems for successful implantation of planning

According to Professor Lewis,

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