Economics: is the study of human efforts in order to satisfy what appears to be unlimited and competing through careful use of relatively scarce resources.
It is therefore a social science that studies the relationship between the scarce resources and the various uses/needs that compete these resources.
Scope of Economics
The study of economics is divided into two groups namely:
- Micro Economics
- Macro Economics
Micro Economics
- Is a branch of economics that studies/deals with problems that affect individual units of economy. It causes problems of a particular firm/industry, pricing of goods and services in a market e.t.c. It mainly deals with problems of price determination and resource.
Macro Economics
- This is a branch of economics that studies and handles the problems of the entire economy in general. It studies the aggregate behaviour with unit of the economy and problems that affect the economy as a whole e.g. unemployment, inflation, poverty e.t.c.
Development Economics
Is a branch of economic that studies the various aspects of the development process especially in the least developed areas. It focuses not only on methods of promoting economic growth and structural changes but also on improving the potential of the mass/population through health and education on workplace conditions. It is concerned with economic and political processes necessary for effecting rapid and institutional transformation of the entire society in a manner that will most efficiently bring the fruits of economic progress to the broadest segments of the population.
It is concerned with economic, social and institutional mechanisms, both public and private, necessary for bringing about rapid and large scale improvement in the levels of living for the masses.
Components of Development Economics
Development economics will deal with issues that will help to bring the fruits of economic progress in order to improve the level of living for the people and these include areas such as:
- Industrialization
- Education
- Health
- Employment
- Governance
- Urbanization
- Research
- Trade
Significance/Role of Development economics in society
- Distributes scarce resources effectively and efficiently among the community so as to satisfy every person’s needs.
- Improves the living standards of people by ensuring that there is satisfaction of what appears to be unlimited.
- Resources are mobilized efficiently and effectively in order to better people’s way of life.
- Creates employment among the citizens thus abolish ignorance and poverty.
- Develops infrastructure such as roads, electricity e.t.c.
- Through economic development, health in societies has been improved which reduces mortality rate of children thus increases life expectancy.
- Creates a balance in development thus eradicates rural-urban migration.
- Since people are supposed to begin their choice, development economics propels social cohesion thus promotes unity about rapid economic growth.
