INTRODUCTION
Ø A General Introduction to Economics
The ancient Greeks were the first to define 'economy' as the rational, conscious and organised management of the home and family, or the rules and laws by which the head of the household is able to manage the affairs of his home and family. The Greeks' use of the word economy was not limited solely to the management of domestic affairs, but the concept was broadened to include the management of the affairs of the state or the establishment of rules and laws governing the affairs of the state, considering that the state is a home and all citizens are members of the same family. It was at this point that Adam Smith introduced his book "The Wealth of Nations", stating: « Economics is the science that seeks to create wealth for the people and the state ».
The current global definition of economics is: "It is the branch of the social sciences that studies how to use limited resources to satisfy multiple and unlimited human needs." In fact, it tries to find solutions to economic problems.
What is the economic problem?
Economic problem : The economic problem is linked to the scarcity of economic resources needed to satisfy society's unlimited needs. It is therefore linked to two fundamental factors: the human needs to be satisfied are multiple and unlimited, and the resources available to satisfy human needs are limited.
Ø Economic concepts
Economic analysis is divided into microeconomic analysis, which is the subject of our study, and macroeconomic analysis, which is studied at a higher level.
- Microeconomic analysis : It is the analysis that deals with the study of economic and individual units of society, such as the individual consumer, the individual producer, the commodity and the single market. behaviour of individuals, whether they are consumers or producers. This means that it deals with the economic activity of small individual economic units, which is linked to the behaviour of the consumer or the individual. factor of production and the way in which the individual distributes his savings.
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- Macroeconomic analysis: This is related to the idea of agglomeration and global relationships, as it studies economic relationships and phenomena as a whole as a global relationship, rather than studying separate processes in themselves or individual economic decisions. In other words, macroeconomic analysis is concerned with the study of the overall economic activity of society, such as theories of aggregate demand and aggregate supply, theories of income determination and the analysis of general economic equilibrium.