gian: Ökonomie
- Malaysian: ekonomi
- Norwegian: økonomi ?
- Portuguese: cheap: econômico ; science: economia
- Russian: экономика (ekonómika)
- * Cyrillic: економија
- * Roman: ekonomija
- Spanish: economía
- Swedish: ekonomi
- Turkish: ekonomi
- Russian: экономный (ekonómnyj)
An economy is the realized system of human activities related to the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services of a country or other area.
The composition of a given economy is inseparable from technological evolution, civilization's history and social organization, as well as from Earth's geography and ecology, e.g. ecoregions which represent different agricultural and resource extraction opportunities, among other factors. Economy refers also to the measure of how a country or region is progressing in terms of product.
Origins and Etymology
The word "economy" can be traced back to the word οικονομία, "one who manages a household", derived from οικος, "house", and νέμω, "distribute (especially, manage)". From οικονόμος of a household or family" but also senses such as "thrift", "direction", "administration", "arrangement", and "public revenue of a state". The first recorded sense of the word "economy", found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is "the management of economic affairs", in this case, of a monastery. Economy is later recorded in other senses shared by οικονομία in Greek, including "thrift" and "administration". The most frequently used current sense, "the economic system of a country or an area", seems not to have developed until the 19th or 20th century.
HistoryThe earliest economic activity centered around food gathering and animal hunting. During the Stone Age, which lasted until about 11000 years ago, early humans wandered in tribal or family groups, hunting animals for food and picking nuts, berries, and fruits where they could. All of this continued until an agricultural revolution occurred. Through a gradual process of thousands of years, people eventually domesticated wild plants and animals. This meant that people would then graze the animals like sheep and use them for their own needs. Humans could now have a reliable supply of food which in turn improved people’s lives and provided leisure time. This revolution could then be used to develop other activities, such as bureaucracy. The demands of crops and herding animals also encouraged people to remain in one location, so villages and towns began to develop. That was the first human economic activity as trading was first performed among people. The food grown by individuals now would not only be used to feed themselves, but if they had more than they needed they could trade for other needed equipment. Continued improvement in agricultural technology—such as the plough, the tractor and better farming techniques—led to even better lives for people. The new technology improved crop yields and food quality, and also resulted in better methods for storing, transporting, and selling food. One result of this technological change was that people had more time to do other things beside produce food. They could become craftspeople, working with metal wood or cloth. Or they could host other things, including teaching, developing laws, practicing medicine, or leading their growing communities. These new crafts and skills that people developed from the leisure time they created from the new farming techniques, generated jobs and money. For example metal workers could sell their products to farmers and they would either barter with food, or would trade with capital (money). The money would then keep flowing around the community and the economic activity would increase.
Modern Economic Activities—Industrial Revolution and Urbanization The modern era for economics started around 1700 A.D. It was that time when a second agricultural revolution took place. Farmers began to apply new scientific knowledge to producing food, especially through the use of machines and equipment. This drove the development of manufacturing, and the Industrial Revolution was underw