<P> There are a variety of modern definitions of economics; some reflect evolving views of the subject or different views among economists . Scottish philosopher Adam Smith (1776) defined what was then called political economy as "an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations", in particular as: </P> <P> a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator (with the twofold objectives of providing) a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people...(and) to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue for the publick services . </P> <P> Jean - Baptiste Say (1803), distinguishing the subject from its public - policy uses, defines it as the science of production, distribution, and consumption of wealth . On the satirical side, Thomas Carlyle (1849) coined "the dismal science" as an epithet for classical economics, in this context, commonly linked to the pessimistic analysis of Malthus (1798). John Stuart Mill (1844) defines the subject in a social context as: </P> <P> The science which traces the laws of such of the phenomena of society as arise from the combined operations of mankind for the production of wealth, in so far as those phenomena are not modified by the pursuit of any other object . </P>

Who suggested that economics is a social science