On 27 Jul 2005 at 13:37, Sumitra Shah wrote:  
in all its majesty as a study of how mankind goes about  
satisfying its material wants.  
  
  
Huh?  Economics is a theory of choice, i.e., of how individuals (and   
organizations) make choices, material and non-material.  "Satisfying   
its material wants" is only a subset, and, IMHO, when economics is   
taught as only that it loses much of what makes it a social science   
and the ability to address questions that make it intellectually   
challenging.  
  
Fred Carstensen