Economics is the only social science comparable to the natural sciences in rigor and explanatory method. Like the phenomena treated by physics or chemistry, the data of economic life are pervasive and seemingly explainable by commonsense procedures. But the explanations of economic data, like those of physical states, go deeper than the connecting of observable events and may involve sophisticated mathematics. Economists explain the magnitude of prices and incomes by seeking our forces that exceed the wills, and even the comprehension, of most retailers and employers. Economists must be sensitive to the historical nature of their discipline. The laws of economics may be true everywhere at the present, but they have not always been true. Economic analysis has emerged under the particular conditions of capitalism, and its history is mainly a record of corrections imposed on pure theory by changes in economic life. Economists are thus forced to make an assumption that no physicist would accept: they assume that the laws of their science are subject to change by human action and can be useful in guiding that action. Topics explored include capital budgeting and management, risk / return analysis of investment decisions, corporate mergers, and much more. This dictionary is designed mainly for classroom use, and make excellent supplements to college test. In policy making or business brush-up programs, they can serve as fine main texts.
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