Origin Of Economics

The English word economics has been derived from Greek word ‘Oeconomicus’. The meaning of this word is science of household management. Many Greek philosophers have given meaning of economics in various ways. According to Greek philosopher Xenophon, economics is the science of household management. Likewise, the Greek philosopher Aristotle defined that it is not only the science of household management but also the science of exchange.

History of economies is very long. It starts from mercantilism to Rodan's age. There are six stages of development of economics.  They are;

(1)      Pre classical stage (Thomas Mun 1571-1641)

(2)      Classical stage       (Adam smith 1723-1790)

(3)      Socialistic stage (Karl Marx 1818-1883)

(4)      Marginal stage or Neo-classical (Alfred Marshall 1842-1924)

(5)      Keynesian stage (John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946)

(6)      Modern stage (Rodan)

With these stages of economics, different economic thoughts are developed. Some well-known thoughts of economics are wealth, material welfare and scarcity.