Far from being limited to questions of unemployment, interest rates, and the demand for goods and services, economics seeks to answer questions spanning a wide range of issues. These include poverty, discrimination, crime, pollution, education, international trade, international finance, taxation, natural resources and many other issues. Unlike the study of business management that focuses on improvements for a single firm or industry, economics takes a societal view that examines the impact of decisions or policies on individuals, households, businesses, taxpayers, the environment, and the country as a whole.

In order to examine the impacts of policies from a societal view, economic analysis relies on a highly analytical method that requires knowledge of micro- and macroeconomic theories, mathematical modeling, and logic.