Economics

This is a 'portal' article that is intended as a guide to the available economics articles, using in-text links (blue font). Access to the articles is also provided by a taxonomic index of articles, and an alphabetical index, of both articles and topics within the articles.. Definitions of the terms used in the articles are provided in the glossary subpage. Prospective contributors to economics articles are invited to start by visiting the CZ:Economics Workgroup page.

The term economics refers both to an intellectual discipline and to a profession.

The intellectual discipline of economics is an attempt to gain an understanding of the processes that govern the production, distribution and consumption of wealth, and to use that understanding to assist in the prediction of the consequences of economic activities. It uses the methodology of science and can be considered to be a science insofar as it produces testable propositions (see economics as a science), although some branches of the subject are widely considered to be normative (see normative economics). Like other sciences, it is subject to a continuing process of revision.

The profession of economics includes academics.

The practice of economics

Economics is a difficult and technical subject, but nobody will believe it - J M Keynes

The services provided by practitioners of economics include economic forecasting, advice to company executives concerning the consequences for sales and profits of alternative courses of action, advice to investors concerning the performance of particular markets, advice to regulatory authorities concerning the impact of regulations upon the economy, and advice to governments concerning the effects of alternative policy actions upon economic efficiency, inflation, output and fiscal stability Unlike most other sciences, economics is often the subject of strongly-held opinions by laymen, and one of the functions of economists is to counter damaging popular fallacies .