What is the main focus of economics?

The main focus of economics is to understand how needs and wants are satisfied through choices. This discipline examines the allocation of scarce resources to meet the demands of individuals and societies. Economics fundamentally revolves around the concept of trade-offs and opportunity costs that arise when making decisions about resources, whether they are time, money, or materials.

Understanding how individuals and societies satisfy their needs and wants involves analyzing consumer behavior, production, distribution, and consumption patterns. Economists study diverse issues, from the impact of supply and demand to the role of government interventions in the market, all centered around meeting human desires in the context of limited resources.

The other options, while related to specific areas within the field, are more narrow in scope. Studying market trends and analyzing company profits are important parts of business economics, but they do not encompass the broader fundamental principles of economics as a whole. Similarly, predicting future economic crises may involve economic analysis but is a specific application rather than a definition of the discipline itself. The essence of economics lies in understanding the choices made to satisfy human needs and wants, which is why that option is the correct focus.