What are the basic concepts of the definition of economics given by Robbins
Answers
In his landmark essay on the nature of economics, Lionel Robbins defined economics as
“the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses”
(Robbins, 1935, p. 16).
At first glance, this formulation seems a dry and inauspicious note on which to launch a discussion of the behavioral and neurobiological study of economic decision making in animals. Robbins’ definition confines economics to the study of human behavior, he sought to distinguish economics from the natural sciences, and he firmly opposed attempts to “vivisect the economic agent” (Maas, 2009).
Why then, use his definition as a starting point? I do so because deletion of a single word, “human,” frees the core idea underlying Robbins’ definition to apply as broadly and fundamentally in the domain of animal biology as in the originally envisaged domain of human economic behavior. Robbins opined:
“The material means of achieving ends are limited. We have been turned out of Paradise. We have neither eternal life nor unlimited means of gratification. Everywhere we turn, if we choose one thing we must relinquish others which, in different circumstances, we wish not to have relinquished. Scarcity of means to satisfy ends of varying importance is an almost ubiquitous condition of human behaviour”
Answer:
The basic concepts of the definition of economics given by Robbins are:
1. Human wants are unlimited
2.Resourses to satisfy human wants are limited
3.Scarce resources have alternative uses .