The subject and functions of the economy

Economic theory - systemic, scientifican account of people's activities through categories, patterns, laws, represented by certain concepts. It studies laws, laws of development of economic activity, is the methodological and theoretical basis of other sciences.

Functions

Different authors distinguish various functions of the economy as a science, among which:

1. Scientific and cognitive.

Two aspects are distinguished here:

• operating with facts, evidence, statements, analyzing reality, it develops scientific concepts;
• in the positions, concepts, categories, laws, patterns of development are revealed that allows to know the essence of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

2. Critical.

Science always in the process of research collideswith different approaches, judgments, decisions. Therefore, when forming a certain concept, it must approach the positions critically, proving their value or inconsistency.

3. Economic and practical (sometimes it is simply called pragmatic).

The essence of this function of the economy is,that it should help to achieve real results, stimulating the development of social production. But we need to bear in mind here that economic theory does not set itself the task of teaching people how to sow, build houses, and extract oil. This is the task of other specific sciences - agriculture, construction and others. The functions of economic science are to create methods for solving certain economic problems.

4. Prognostic.

Studying and systematizing the processes taking place inworld, revealing the laws, categories, patterns, it allows to predict further development, which makes it possible to more fully consider the needs, more rational use of resources.

5. Methodological.

The essence of this function of the economy is that thisscience is the basis for determining the position of each subject, the direction of social development (market, socialism, post-industrial system), depending on which problems receive a specific assessment.

6. Educational function.

It consists in the formation of certainviews, outlook on issues that affect the interests of society. This function takes on special significance in the conditions of de-ideologization of science and all spheres of social life.

According to another approach, the functions of the economy include the following:

• organization of production, ensuring economic growth;
• efficiency;
• full employment;
• economic freedom;
• stable price level;
• security;
• trade balance;
• preservation of habitat;
• fair distribution of income.

Subject

In modern textbooks there are twohike to the subject. According to the positive economy, it consists in explaining the essence of the ongoing processes and phenomena, as well as developing recommendations for the implementation of policies based on analysis of real practice (building models that are free from subjective judgments). According to the normative economy, the subject defines the principles of economic behavior that serve as the basis for evaluating performance (subjective judgments about how it should be).

Thus, speaking of what they representthe method and functions of economic theory, it should be said that this is the science of how a society uses limited resources to produce material and spiritual goods and distributes them among various groups of the population. So, it is fair to say that economic theory is a science that studies what to produce, how to produce, for whom to produce.

</ p>