19/08/2026
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND OTHER SCIENCE SUBJECTS
Economics is different from other science subjects like Physics and Chemistry. Some of their areas of difference are:
i. While Economics belongs to the group called social sciences, Physics and Chemistry belong to the area of physical, natural and pure sciences.
ii. Economics as a social science studies mainly human beings and their behaviours, while pure sciences like Physics and Chemistry study mainly inanimate objects.
iii. Unlike the natural and physical sciences that can isolate their objects of study to conclude, in Economics, which is a social science, the objects of study can never be isolated. When an Economist is studying human beings and their behaviours, he is at the same time studying himself and his behaviours.
iv. Economics is also different from natural and physical sciences like Physics and Chemistry because it does not have a defined laboratory and uses no specific apparatuses. Human society as a whole serves as a laboratory for Economics.
v. Another area of difference between Economics and other science subjects like Physics and Chemistry is that experiments performed in Economics are not subjected to effective control as is done in Physics and Chemistry.
vi. Furthermore, the objects of study of physical and natural sciences are rigid and not flexible in their reactions, like human behaviours that constitute the objects of study of Economics, which are flexible and vary with situations.
vii. Economics, unlike the pure science subjects, does not arrive at definite conclusions because human beings and their behaviours change like the weather and are not consistent. As a result of this inconsistency in human beings who have free will and cannot be subjected to rigid, unbending laws, Economists coined the Latin phrase ceteris paribus (other things being equal) to counteract the uncertainty of their laws and conclusions.
viii. Like all other science subjects, economics is a body of knowledge arranged in an orderly manner, and this kind of knowledge is obtained by observing human beings, their behaviours, and their social environment. The facts obtained from this observation are tested to arrive at certain laws such as the laws of demand and supply, the law of diminishing returns, the law of marginal utility, and so on. These Laws have been empirically tested and experimented on the production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services.
ix. Economics therefore possesses those attributes of science like investigation, observation, arrangement, classification and interpretation of facts, empirical testing of facts, the deductive and inductive methods of theories used to formulate laws and finally, establishing principles, propositions, generalizations, theories and laws used for the analysis, prediction and forecasting of economic problems and solutions. It is as a result of the above reasons that students of Economics in many universities graduate with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree and not a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree.
x. Finally, while the natural sciences use positive statements which state “what is” and can be refuted by contradictory evidence, Economics uses normative statements which state “what ought to be” and cannot be refuted by contradictory evidence.
The above evidence serves as empirical proof that Economics, like other subjects that possess similar qualities, is a science subject. However, Economics is not a natural, pure, or physical science, but a social science.
Distinguished University Professor Christopher Ominyofe Balogun FCE, FBQS, CMC, FCDipl (UK)
Director General/CEO of ICEN
