Economist

Economist

A person, especially but not necessarily an academic, who studies how people produce, trade, and use goods and services. Economists look at how different actors, such as individuals, companies, and governments, interact with one another to maximize the fulfillment of their needs through the use of scarce resources. Economists also study supply, demand, and the relationship between the two. There are a number of schools of thought among economists. Some major schools are classical economics, which considers the sources of production as well as the role of the Invisible Hand of the market, and Marxism, which considers the exploitation of labor by holders of capital. Other, modern schools of thought include Keynesianism, which emphasizes the role of demand as opposed to supply, and monetarism, which promotes the use of the free market and considers the role of money supply in economic growth. See also: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics.