ABSTRACT
This chapter provides various definitions of economics to give the reader a better understanding of the nature of economics en route to understanding what it is that economists do. The common theme in all of the definitions involves scarcity and choices. Simply put, economics deals with the choices we are forced to make because of scarcity, which arises from our inability to satisfy our unlimited wants. That being said, everything we do in our daily lives involves economics to some degree; consequently, economics is a science, an art, a social science, and a field of business. Indeed, economics is imbued in art, music, finance, marketing, philosophy, physics, mathematics, etc. Economists deal with society's problems; they are social commentators, theorists, pragmatists and leaders. All the scholars included in this text were or are involved in one or more of these areas.
