What is the purpose of economy?

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That may sound like a silly question but I ask it very seriously:

What in your opinion is the purpose of economy?
Would your opinion on it have implications in real-life decisions?

In the sense of “economizing,” economy has a great impact on my life.

As far as the macrocosmic “economy”: whether it’s good or bad, I don’t tend to adjust my spending—unless a bad economy forces me to (i.e, through loss of income).

The COVID19 situation, and disasters in general, induce me to make more more donations to charity. And if somebody close to me is “in need,” I would seek to help out in at least a small way.

"Economy"?

Or "THE economy"?

An economics professor would say that the "goal of economics is the greatest amount of output for the least amount of input".

You figure out an efficient way to set up your kitchen counter top so that you wash your dishes in an efficient, assembly-line-kinda-way, and the you get clean dishes in less time.

In a word "efficiency".

To efficiently allocate goods and services while increasing the welfare of the participants involved, even if it is not obvious (creative destruction for instance). The price system should send signals as to what is needed, but that is a bit distorted.

The economy doesn’t have a purpose, it just is. It’s like asking what the purpose of the weather is.

Why should the government care about the economy? Because it is people’s livelihoods. It is how almost everyone gets their food and shelter. The global economy has raised billions of people out of poverty. The economy describes everything anyone makes or does that anyone else is prepared to pay for. So in that sense, the economy is how the world becomes a better place.

One thing I should say at this point, the economy is not:

- the price of gold
- the stock market

I believe the standard textbook definition of economy (as an academic subject) is that it is "the study of scarce resources".

Once there is no scarcity, there is no need for economy. So if you don't like economics, blame thermodynamics.

So the purpose of economy (as a real-world phenomenon) is closely tied to scarcity as well: How does one allocate and distribute scare resources? How one answers that question has been one of the most salient political questions of mankind since... well, probably since before we were even mankind...

Interestingly enough, environmental concerns in general - and climate change in particular - has challenged many fundamental assumptions in economics in the last century, but they have also made the concept of scarcity an even more defining feature of economics.

Economy is the subject of identifying and tracking the wealth and respources of a group or nation. It is not finance nor is it solely about money and monitory values--wealth can be given a value in terms of money, but that is not necessarily its market value. Not all economic value can be described in market terms. Economics is also the study of how decisions are made in regards to that wealth.

That's interesting. My personal understanding of economics is "how to get what you want/need at a cost you can accept" - and it's more general than humankind, even bacteria do it.

Economy as allocation of scarce resources becomes interesting when technological progress makes material goods cheaper and cheaper.

I understand the economy as a kind of an ecosystem of various inter-dependent human activities. A government is a part of environment in which such an ecosystem forms - the part that can be more or less conciously steered.
What should be the goal of government involvement (or concious lack of it) in the economy?

In order to understand the word economy, it is good to study the subject of economics.
The following website gives a basic overview.
economics basics
Hope that helps.

That is a very good question. And as you pointed out, policy is not just about what the government does, but also chooses not to do. This is also tied up with what are private and public goods as well as how government deals with market failures. Externalities are the classic example--do polluters have responsibility for their pollution?

Very Interesting Discussion;

What I've Observed About Economy

Is:

Not Having to Worry About Economy

Makes An Abundant Life for me at least;

Which of Course, Per 'this Discussion' is Nature of

the 'Economy Beast'

i don't think it's such
a Coincidence How
The term ScarCity
is Part City, Scar, And Scare;
Hehe And Perhaps Cars in Congested
Traffic Trying to Overcome 'The Economy too'...

This Being the Case; Whenever i talk Politics
or Economy; It's Usually about Other Folks and Not Really Associated
Specifically With My Life; It's Probably Hard to have a Golden Age

with concerns of

Economy, indeed...

Nest Eggs; And all of that
Overcoming
Economy
for Real....

Debt-Free of Course
Rising Past Economy too...

But true, Considering Humans
Are Not Evolved for Instant Gratification;
Some Days. i Do Economy Just to Be Happiest too!

Like imagining Politics is really gonna effect me
in the Last Few Decades of my Life...
Highly unlikely, in A Greedy 'Hoardy' Country like America...

if one Understands
How to Live Freely with
Fewest External Resources Feeding one;
It is so Much Easier to Economize Over
the Whole Course of a
Lifetime now...

Getting rid
oF All SCaRCiTieS iNDeed...
So Far Out of the Debt of Economy Now!

From the Truly Overall ScarCiTy Fed by the U.S.A Today...

Like 40 Percent of Americans or So; Who Won't make it
More than a Few Weeks Without a Job in the

Economy They Create for themselves now!

i am indeed Very Economically

Conservative, Not Surprisingly,

Leading to Abundance

that most

folks do

not understand...

Abundance in Economy of
Within Most Often Leads Now
to Abundance of Economy in
Fiscal Reality too! Like attracts Like...

Then:
A. Frankincense and Myrrh were once the economic foundation of entire societies - and worth their weight in gold.
B. A pound of purple dye cost approx. 20,000 $ (by conversion to current prices) in in ancient Rome.
C. Countries waged long a bloody wars (and with nutmeg, even carried out genocide) over spices for centuries.

Now:
A. Frankincense and Myrrh go for 5 $/oz on Amazon... But why even buy it when we have deodorant and perfume?
B. 2.5 litres of purple paint goes for £ 13.99 on Amazon.
C. Look in your kitchen cupboard

That's the economy of no worry - a scarce and precious resource, indeed

Yes, fish, including species like tuna, are very cheap. They are also threatened. We have so much more material wealth, and so much less of our functioning ecosystems. There is no where on Earth we cannot find a place that does not have plastic waste. We are now changing the chemical makeup of our atmosphere and oceans, which is impacting our health and economy.

Is the price you pay to purchase those goods capturing all the costs?

Smiles, Not Surprisingly, 1st World Problem Economy Countries More

Often Carry a Frown than 3rd World Problem Economy Countries

When Bellies are full and that's enough Together; Coming through

the Other Side of a Hurricane; One Finds Out

Just How Poor the Economy

of Within is with

Many Folks;

Full Bellies

Complaining about

An Interruption in

Electricity and Wi-fi;
Not gonna Lie i was
tempted to feel empty within
a bit at first; then i just went
outside and became one with
The Breeze and Forest all Filled up again..!

With a Dance
of Course Free
And A Song of Soul Smiling For Real..!

A Hardest Lesson in my Life to Learn
But indeed Don't Worry Be Happy Greatest

Economy to

Achieve!

With a
Cheshire
Cat Smile..