Economics vs Science: Essay Sample on Exploring the Interactions and Differences

Economics is concerned with the study of how economic variables interact with and against each other. Khumalo (2016) defined it as the study of how people use knowledge to identify scarce resources, utilize it to create commodities, and distribute them among human beings. Science, on the other hand, is a "systematic and organized body of knowledge in any area of inquiry" (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p.1). It follows a scientific method to discover behaviors and patterns of a given phenomenon. Scientists postulate a theory and gather evidence to support or refute it. The main characteristics that define science are the existence of universally accepted laws, the ability to make future predictions, and the presence of scale of measurements (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Also, it is based on the study of knowledge or facts, and it can develop a causal relationship between two or more events. Economics has characteristics that define science. This area of study is a science because it has universally accepted laws like the law of diminishing marginal utility, it can measure causal relationships between variables such as a change in price relative to supply and also has specific measurements for economic variables.

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Economics has laws that are accepted worldwide. Some of these components are the law of diminishing marginal utility, the law of demand and supply. In today's world, the law of demand and supply guides the production and distribution of essential commodities in market economies. Similarly, natural sciences have Boyle's law and the law of gravity, which have gained universal acceptance. In science, laws guide procedures underlying various scientific methods of inquiry, while in economics, it is the basis of monetary and fiscal policies.

The basis of scientific knowledge, according to Bhattacherjee (2012, is evidence (observations) and logic (theory). Economics has this characteristic because economists observe changes in an economy and utilize existing theoretical models to refine economic policies. More importantly, economists use models and mathematical equations to address economic issues like inflation. Economics, therefore, is a science because it uses theoretical knowledge to solve economic problems.

Economics enhances an understanding of the correlation-ship between cause and effect. The study of cause and effect is a critical defining feature of science (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Through experiments, scientists manipulate independent variables to determine their impact on the response variable (effect). While economists do not carry out laboratory experiments, they use models and equations to establish the correlation between cause and effect. For instance, supply is a positive function of price. In this relationship, change in supply is the effect, while a variation in price is a cause. This aspect is the characteristic of any scientific experiment.

The scope of economics, in itself, satisfy the definition of science because it involves a systematic study of knowledge and facts. In macro-economics, for example, it is a fact that inflation causes currency depreciation. This knowledge is arrived at through systematic collection, classification, and analysis of data. Besides, economics use specific measurements like other sciences. For instance, economic growth is measured in terms of GDP.

References

Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices. Tampa, Florida: Universal Publishers. Retrieved 11 January 2020, from https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks/url/

Khumalo, B. (2016). Why Economics Is a Science: Information, the Grand Unifier. Modern Economy, 7(2), 183-193. doi: 10.4236/me.2016.72020