Economics is a Science of choice making-Explain the statement/ Explain the definition of L. Robbins
Posted by Ripon Abu Hasnat on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | 0 comments
Robbins gave a more scientific
definition of Economics. His definition is as follows:
"Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a
relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses".
Strengths
of Robbins Definitions
The definition deals with the following four aspects:
(i) Economics is a science: Economics
studies economic human behavior scientifically. It studies how humans try to
optimize (maximize or minimize) certain objective under given constraints. For
example, it studies how consumers, with given income and prices of the
commodities, try to maximize their satisfaction.
(ii) Unlimited ends: Ends refer
to wants. Human wants are unlimited. When one want is satisfied, other wants
crop up. If man's wants were limited, then there would be no economic problem.
(iii) Scarce means: Means
refer to resources. Since resources (natural productive resources, man-made
capital goods, consumer goods, money and time etc.) are limited economic
problem arises. If the resources were unlimited, people would be able to
satisfy all their wants and there would be no problem.
(iv) Alternative uses: Not only
resources are scarce, they have alternative uses. For example, coal can be used
as a fuel for the production of industrial goods, it can be used for running
trains, it can also be used for domestic cooking purposes and for so many
purposes. Similarly, financial resources can be used for many purposes. The man
or society has, therefore, to choose the uses for which resources would be
used. If there was only a single use of the resource then the economic problem
would not arise.
It follows from the definition of Robbins that Economics is a
science of choice. An important thing about Robbin's definition is that it does
not distinguish between material and non-material, between welfare and
non-welfare. Anything which satisfies the wants of the people would be studied
in Economics. Even if a good is harmful to a person it would be studied in
Economics if it satisfies his wants.
Criticism
of Robbins Definition:
No doubt, Robbins has made Economics a scientific study and his
definition has become popular among some economists. But his definition has
also been criticized on several grounds. Important ones are:
(i) Robbins has made Economics quite impersonal and colorless. By
making it a complete positive science and excluding normative aspects he has
narrowed down its scope.
(ii) Robbins' definition is totally silent about certain
macro-economic aspects such as determination of national income and employment.
(iii) His definition does not cover the theory of economic growth
and development. While Robbins takes resources as given and talks about their
allocation, it is totally silent about the measures to be taken to raise these
resources i.e. national income and wealth.
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