Micro Economics

Historical review of Micro Economics :

Micro Economic analysis was developed first. It is a traditional approach. Origin of this approach can be traced back to the era of Classical Economists- Adam Smith, David Ricardo, J. S. Mill etc.

It was popularized by Neo-Classical Economist, Prof. Alfred Marshall in his book, 'Principles of Economics', published in 1890. Other economists like Prof. Pigou, J. R. Hicks, Prof. Samuelson, Mrs. Joan Robinson, etc. have also contributed to the development of Micro Economics.

Meaning of Micro Economics :

Micro means a small part of a thing. Micro economics thus deals with a small part of the national economy. It studies the economic actions and behaviour of individual units such as an individual consumer, individual producer or a firm, the price of a particular commodity or a factor etc.

Definitions of Micro Economics :

You have already studied some important definitions of micro economics, let us review some more definitions :

1) Maurice Dobb -

“Micro economics is in fact a microscopic study of the economy.”

2) Prof A. P. Lerner -

“Micro economics consists of looking at the economy through a microscope, as it were, to see how the millions of cells in the body of economy – the individuals or households as consumers and individuals or firms as producers play their part in the working of the whole economic organism.”