Final answer:
Economics is the study of decision-making under conditions of scarcity, focusing on how resources are allocated to fulfill human wants and needs.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is Economics?
Economics is the social science concerned with how individuals, families, businesses, and societies make decisions based on scarcity and the choice among alternatives. Scarcity signifies that there are limited resources available to satisfy the unlimited human wants for goods, services, and resources. This fundamental condition leads to the necessity of making choices, as not all needs and desires can be fulfilled. Time, for example, is an ultimate scarce resource with only 24 expendable hours in a day for activities including work, relaxation, or rest. Economists explore these decisions, examining the allocation of scarce resources to various uses, and the implications for production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.