Does anyone have a good article on the history of the term "economics"? I find it significant that the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, begun in 1878 and completed in 1928 and meant to be the last word on English words, does not even have an entry for "economics," neither in the main section nor in the supplement. The latest edition gives Ralph Waldo Emerson as the first use of the term in the modern sense in 1841. Benjamin Disraeli uses the term in 1844, apparently as a way to separate the pesky topic of morals from the science of political economy. I believe it was Jevons who suggested that a change in terms was necessary to reflect the "scientific" nature of marginalism, but I don't think the term comes into general usage until A. E. Marshall's Principles of Economics, which begins, "Political Economy, or Economics, is a study of man's actions in the ordinary business of life; it inquires how he gets his income and how he uses it." It is significant, is it not, that he has to use the older term first. He is clearly innovating. Any help is appreciated. John C. M?daille