Economics is a social science that studies how individuals, businesses, governments, and nations make choices about allocating scarce resources to satisfy their wants and needs. It examines how goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. Key concepts in economics include supply and demand, incentives, opportunity cost, market structures, economic systems (such as capitalism, socialism, and mixed economies), and macroeconomic factors like inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. Economics is crucial for understanding both individual decision-making and the functioning of entire economies on a local, national, and global scale.