Economic theory as a science studies economic problems and patterns that take place within the framework of the economic system, which is an important part of the social structure. The economic system is conditionally divided into areas of activity: production, consumption, distribution and exchange.
Therefore, economic theory as a science studies a part of the whole social structure - the economic system. Moreover, economic theory in the system of sciences is a general theoretical discipline and serves as the theoretical basis for many economic sciences: accounting, economic statistics, finance and credit, international economic relations and others. Economic theory plays a dominant role in the system of sciences.
Do not forget that economic theory as a science studies the behavior of organizations and people in the economic system. Based on the foregoing, we can give a more accurate formulation of the subject of economic theory. The subject is resources and needs. Moreover, intangible and material capabilities that satisfy needs act as resources. Their main feature is limitedness, i.e. they are not enough to satisfy all the ever-growing needs of society. At the same time, the fact of their limitations is fundamental in order for the emergence and development of economic theory as a science. The classification of resources includes the following:
Labor expressed in human resources. In other words, it is the labor force that exists in society and is used in production. Labor (Labor force) as a factor of production implies people of a certain qualification, with knowledge, skills and experience relevant to a particular production.
Capital is expressed by the fact that it is used by labor in the production process: buildings, equipment, machine tools, tools, vehicles, etc. In other words, capital is the means of labor created by man, grouped into two categories: real capital - expressed in physical form and money capital - expressed as the sum of money needed to purchase real capital.
Land. It is worth considering that economic science by this concept means all natural resources: land as agricultural land, water resources, minerals, forests, etc.
Entrepreneurial ability is considered as a factor of production, allowing to combine particular factors in a particular production, with the ability to introduce new technologies and ideas.
By needs, economic science means the need or lack of something necessary for the life and development of the individual, group of people and the whole society. It is the needs that stimulate people to produce the products necessary for life. They are quite difficult to classify. Conventionally, the following groups can be distinguished:
Socio-cultural
Material
Intangible
Customized
Public.
It should be noted that needs change in accordance with the development of society: some disappear, while others appear in return. There are much more needs than the possibilities to satisfy them.
In economic theory, general and particular methods are distinguished. General methods include general philosophical approaches and principles used in the analysis of economics. They are formed within the dialectical method.
In addition, private methods also rely on the dialectical method. Particular methods of economic science include: abstraction, analysis and synthesis, assumption, deduction and induction, the unity of historical and logical, as well as statistical and mathematical methods.
The subject and method of economic science are applied at different levels of analysis in the economy, at the macro and microeconomic levels of the world economy.