ABSTRACT

THE stimulus to the study of Economics is found now, as it has been in the past, chiefly in the bearing which that study has upon practice. But the meaning of 1/ practice" has changed. In the days before Adam Smith the term signified almost exclusively the practice of the nation as a unit. Economics was valuable because it showed what the State ought to do in order to be strong and to maintain itself in the front rank of rival Powers. Now, however, it is understood that.the scientific study of economic facts and causes may help to guide the policy not merely of the State, but also of private persons within it. Economics, in short, is seen to be relevant to the practice of individual "captains of industry" and voluntary associations of Co-operators and Trade Unionists as well as to that of the national Executive.