ECONOMICS

social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. The major divisions of economics include microeconomics, which deals with the behaviour of individual consumers, companies, traders, and farmers; and macroeconomics, which focuses on aggregates such as the level of income in an economy, the volume of total employment, and the flow of investment. Another branch, development economics, investigates the history and changes of economic activity and organization over a period of time, as well as their relation to other activities and institutions. Within these three major divisions there are specialized areas of study that attempt to answer questions on a broad spectrum of human economic activity, including public finance, money supply and banking, international trade, labour, industrial organization, and agriculture. The areas of investigation in economics overlap with other social sciences, particularly political science, but economics is primarily concerned with relations between buyer and seller. Additional reading The best introduction to methodological issues in economics is still L. Robbins, The Nature and Significance of Economic Science, 2nd ed. (1935). A more modern position on empirical testing is well conveyed by M. Friedman in Essays in Positive Economics (1953). The best way to learn about economics is to browse through an introductory textbook, such as P.A. Samuelson, Economics: An Introductory Analysis, 8th ed. (1970); R.G. Lipsey and P.O. Steiner, Economics, 2nd ed. (1969); or A.A. Alchian and W.R. Allen, University Economics (1964). Good histories of economic thought include H.L. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, rev. ed. (1953), a pleasure to read; O.H. Taylor, A History of Economic Thought (1960), arranged chronologically; and E. Whittaker, A History of Economic Ideas (1940), arranged topically. J.A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis (1954); and M. Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, 2nd ed. (1968), are advanced references. Excellent articles on the great economists, as well as superb but sometimes quite difficult essays on the leading branches of modern economics, may be found in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 16 vol. (1968). Each branch of economics has its own specialized texts. (Microeconomics): C.E. Ferguson, Microeconomic Theory, 2nd ed. (1969); K.J. Cohen and R.M. Cyert, Theory of the Firm: Resource Allocation in a Market Economy (1965). (Macroeconomics): G. Ackley, Macroeconomic Theory (1961); T.F. Dernburg and D.M. McDougall, Macroeconomics, 3rd ed. (1968). (Development economics): C.P. Kindleberger, Economic Development, 2nd ed. (1965); B.H. Higgins, Economic Development, 2nd ed. (1968). (Public finance): R.A. Musgrave, The Theory of Public Finance (1959). (Monetary economics): A.G. Hart and P.B. Kenen, Money, Debt and Economic Activity, 3rd ed. (1961); L.V. Chandler, The Economics of Money and Banking, 5th ed. (1969). (International economics): C.P. Kindleberger, International Economics, 4th ed. (1968). (Labour economics): A.M. Cartter and F.R. Marshall, Labour Economics: Wages, Employment, and Trade Unionism (1966); L.C. Hunter and D.J. Robertson, Economics of Wages and Labour (1969). (Industrial organization): E.H. Chamberlain (ed.), Monopoly and Competition and Their Regulation (1954); J.S. Bain, Industrial Organization (1959). (Agricultural economics): T.W. Schultz, The Economic Organization of Agriculture (1953), and Transforming Traditional Agriculture (1964). (Growth economics): R.G.D. Allen, Macro-Economic Theory: A Mathematical Treatment (1967), a fairly difficult book; most texts on macroeconomics and economic development devote a chapter or two to growth theory. (Mathematical economics): A.C. Chiang, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics (1967). (Econometrics): A.A. Walters, An Introduction to Econometrics (1968); C. Christ, Econometric Models and Methods (1966). T.W. Hutchison, The Politics and Philosophy of Economics: Marxians, Keynesians and Austrians (1981), a history of economic thought; and Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol (eds.), The Crisis in Economic Theory (1981).