There are many competing, contradictory or sometimes complementary theories and schools of thought within economics. Macroeconomics studies a global economy at the national and international levels and uses highly aggregated economic data and variables to model the economy. Its purpose can cover a specific geographical region, a country, a continent or even the whole world. His main areas of investigation are recurrent business cycles and broader economic growth and development. Topics studied include foreign trade, government fiscal and monetary policy, unemployment rates, inflation and interest rate levels, total output growth, which is reflected in changes in gross domestic product (GDP), and business cycles that lead to expansions, booms, recessions, and depressions. Micro and macroeconomics are closely linked. Aggregate macroeconomic phenomena are obvious and literally only the sum of microeconomic phenomena. However, these two branches of economics use very different theories, models, and research methods that sometimes seem to conflict with each other. Integrating microeconomic fundamentals into macroeconomic theory and research is an important area of research for many economists. Economics is a social science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. It examines how individuals, businesses, governments and nations make decisions about resource allocation. Economics focuses on people`s actions, based on the assumption that people act with rational behavior and seek the most optimal level of benefit or advantage.
The building blocks of economics are the study of labor and commerce. Since there are many uses of human labor and many different ways of acquiring resources, it is the job of economics to determine which methods provide the best results. The study of economics is generally divided into two disciplines. Other branches of economic thought emphasize empiricism rather than formal logic, especially logical positivist methods that seek to use procedural observations and falsifiable tests associated with the natural sciences. Some economists even use direct experimental methods in their research, asking subjects to make simulated economic decisions in a controlled environment. Because real experiments in economics can be difficult, impossible, or unethical to use, empirical economists rely primarily on simplistic assumptions and retroactive analysis of data. However, some economists argue that economics is not well suited to empirical testing and that such methods often generate incorrect or inconsistent answers. Economists use many different research methods, from logical deduction to pure data mining. Economic theory often progresses through deductive processes, including mathematical logic, where the implications of certain human activities are considered in an “intermediate” framework. This type of economy concludes, for example, that it is more efficient for individuals or companies to specialize in certain types of work and then act on their other needs or desires, rather than trying to produce everything they need or want themselves. It also shows that trading is most effective when coordinated by a medium of exchange or money.
The economic laws thus derived are usually very general and do not give specific results: they may say that profits encourage new competitors to enter a market, but not necessarily how many will. Nevertheless, they provide important information for understanding the behavior of financial markets, governments, economies – and the human decisions behind these entities. The economy can generally be divided into macroeconomics, which focuses on the behavior of the economy as a whole, and microeconomics, which focuses on individuals and firms. Despite this view, economics has been pejoratively called “dark science,” a term coined in 1849 by Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle. He used it to criticize the liberal views on race and social equality of contemporary economists such as John Stuart Mill, although some commentators suggest that Carlyle actually described Thomas Robert Malthus` gloomy predictions that population growth would always exceed the food supply. The premise (and problem) of economics is that people have unlimited needs and occupy a world of limited resources. For this reason, the concepts of efficiency and productivity are considered a priority by economists. Increased productivity and more efficient use of resources, they argue, could lead to a higher standard of living.
