Principles: Economics is a descriptive science

I've heard a great deal about the "invisible hand" of the economy, how the economy acts in this way or that, or how the economy wants or needs something or other. In other words, I hear a lot of people talking as if the economy is a sentient or even intelligent animal, with a mind and will of its own.

Perhaps I'm naive, but I always thought economics was a science: the study of trade, of resources and their uses, often called "wealth". "The Economy" is a phrase we use to describe the system(s) of resource use going on all over our society. But the economy does not itself use resources, or dictate their use.

People use resources. People engage in economic activity. People use (or reject) economic systems that other people have set up to make trade easier. People are responsible for every decision that is made, and for the repercussions of those decisions.

This is not to say that economics is more or less bunk. Rather, it's to say that economics really becomes useful and worthwhile when it's kept in its place: describing the various systems we use to exchange goods, and anticipating the results of those systems. But the economy, especially the profit motive, are out of place as prescribing or proscribing behavior. The systems do not cause virtue or vice; our own decisions do. We cannot blame the economy for making bad decisions, either as individuals or as a nation.

Instead, we can learn from studying economic systems how to better use the resources we have to build a better world for ourselves and our children.