Economics aims to explain how economies work and how economic agents interact. Economic analysis is applied throughout society, in business, finance and government, but also incrime, education, the family, health, law, politics, religion, social institutions, war, and science. The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.
Common distinctions are drawn between various dimensions of economics. The primary textbook distinction is between microeconomics, which examines the behavior of basic elements in the economy, including individual markets and agents (such as consumers and firms, buyers and sellers), and macroeconomics, which addresses issues affecting an entire economy, including unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy. Other distinctions include: between positive economics (describing "what is") and normative economics (advocating "what ought to be"); between economic theory and applied economics; between mainstream economics (more "orthodox" dealing with the "rationality-individualism-equilibrium nexus") and heterodox economics (more "radical" dealing with the "institutions-history-social structure nexus"); and between rational and behavioral economics.
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Microeconomics
Economists study trade, production and consumption decisions, such as those that occur in a