分析和闡述財富的生產、分配和消費的社會科學。經濟學為研究個體或社會如何選擇、運用資源的一門學科，諸如該生產何種物品及提供何種服務、要如何將之生產及將之散播放社會成員之中。經濟學通常分為個體經濟學（microeconomics）和總體經濟學（macroeconomics）兩大類。總體經濟學側重於經濟成長率、通貨膨脹率及失業率。特殊領域的經濟調查則為不同經濟活動提供解決之道，包括農業經濟學（agricultural economics）、經濟發展、經濟史（economic history）、環境經濟學（environmental economics）、工業組織（industrial organization）、國際貿易（international trade）、勞動經濟學（labor economics）、貨幣供給和銀行業務（banking）、公共財政（public finance）、城市經濟（ruban economics）以及福利經濟學（welfare economics）等。數理經濟學（mathematical economics）及計量經濟學的專家提供了所有經濟學家得以利用的工具。經濟學的研究範圍與其他學科交疊的情況經常發生，如歷史、數學（mathematics）、政治學（political science）及社會學（sociology）
economics
Social science that analyzes and describes the consequences of choices made concerning scarce productive resources. Economics is the study of how individuals and societies choose to employ those resources: what goods and services will be produced, how they will be produced, and how they will be distributed among the members of society. Economics is customarily divided into microeconomics and macroeconomics. Of major concern to macroeconomists are the rate of economic growth, the inflation rate, and the rate of unemployment. Specialized areas of economic investigation attempt to answer questions on a variety of economic activity; they include agricultural economics, economic development, economic history, environmental economics, industrial organization, international trade, labor economics, money supply and banking, public finance, urban economics, and welfare economics. Specialists in mathematical economics and econometrics provide tools used by all economists. The areas of investigation in economics overlap with many other disciplines, notably history, mathematics, political science, and sociology.
