Mary- Julie A. Nelson calls these two different definitions "The Logic of Choice or the Study of Provisioning", which is the title of her contribution in M. A. Ferber and J.A. Nelson (eds.): _Beyond Economic Man_, 1993, University of Chicago. Her paper discusses these two definitions of economics with regard to the analysis of gender. It is very easy to find textual evidence in Petty, Cantillon, Smith, Ricardo, and Marx to support the idea of economics as concerned with activities related to the material provisioning of society's members. You will also find this perspective expressed by their modern day followers (marxists, sraffians, of various stripes), as well as many ecological economists. The constrained decision-making model (logic of choice) came with the marginal revolution, culminated (as others have mentioned) in Robbins' definition, and solidified with the subsequent increased formalization in the discipline. It continues to be the hallmark of neoclassical economics (of varying types) to this day. This gets into a whole lot of other fascinating issues, including the transition from 'political economy' to 'economics', issues related to the scope, method, and object of economic inquiry, and the relation of economics to the other social sciences. Regards, Mat Forstater ___________________________________ Mathew Forstater Department of Economics Gettysburg College Gettysburg, PA 17325 tel: (717) 337-6668 fax: (717) 337-6251 e-mail: [log in to unmask]