 Economics. Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behavior and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes basic elements in the economy, including individual agents and markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyzes the entire economy, meaning aggregated production, consumption, savings, and investment and issues affecting it, including unemployment of resources labor, capital, and land inflation, economic growth, and the public policies that address these issues monetary, fiscal, and other policies. Sea glossary of economics. Other broad distinctions within economics include those between positive economics, describing ways and normative economics, advocating what ought to be between economic theory and applied economics, between rational and behavioral economics, and between mainstream economics and heterodox economics.