Marshall was the first economist who lifted the science of economics from the disrepute it had fallen into due to its being associated with the study of wealth. Marshall pointed out that, for economics, wealth is not an end in itself but it is only a means to an end; the end being the promotion of human welfare. Thus, according to Marshall, wealth is only a secondary thing; it is man and his ordinary business of life which is the primary object of economic study. In fact, Marshall tried to make the study of economics an engine of social betterment. With this end in view, Marshall gave the following definition of economics “Political economy or economics is the study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and with the use of the material requisites of well-being”. Marshall writes “Economics on the one side is study of wealth and, on the other and more important side, a part of the study of man” Marshall says “Economics is study of man’s action in the ordinary business of life. It enquires how he gets his income and how he uses it.
Cannan defines “The aim of Political Economy is the explanation of the general causes on which the material welfare of human beings depends” According to Cannan, economic enquiries into the factors which determine the material welfare of human beings.
Pigou describes that “the range of our enquiry becomes restricted to that part of social welfare which can be brought directly or indirectly into relationship with the measuring rod of money”
Critical Evaluation
Robbins says “A theory of wages which ignored all those sums which were paid for immaterial services or were spent on immaterial ends would be intolerable” Robbins remarks “Why talk of welfare at all? Why not throw away the mast altogether.”
