Economics is a way of thinking about how people make decisions and interact with each other. As such it is one of the cognitive and social sciences, such as psychology, sociology and philosophy. Economics focuses on "the ordinary business of life" as the economist Alfred Marshall stated. It explains how we get our incomes, how we use them, the supply of resources and the production and exchange of goods and services. Decisions relating to these have social consequences, intended and unintended, which are also analysed in Economics.

Students who have studied Junior Certificate Business Studies will have received a basic introduction to economics but this is not essential for study of Leaving Certificate Economics.