What are the First Principles of Economics?

Physics has the General theory of Relativity, Quantum theory, String Theory and the Theory of everything.

Chemistry has the Atomic Theory.

Biology and medicine have the Germ Theory of [infectious] disease and the Theory of Evolution.

What does economics have? Public debates over the economy frequently come down to differences between planned vs. market systems. But there are more than a tinge of political ideology in such debates. A more pointed question is ‘what are the natural laws of economics?; the first principles on which all economic systems depend’. History and current events suggests these principles exist… (1) All modern economies, regardless of economic system, undergo non-seasonal cycles of recession and expansion. (2) The collapse of nations and empires (modern examples are Somalia and the British Empire) do not eliminate market commerce. (3) Even in the most straightened of circumstances where capital and goods are in short supply; infrastructure is nonexistent and social structure best described as absent (such as refugee camps), trade can commence and economies birthed. These examples show that geopolitically determined economic systems are not essential for functional commerce and thus the growth of economies, suggesting the possibility that economies are self-organizing entities directed by rules which economist have yet to determine. Any economic debate in the absence of understanding of these elemental principles are arguably futile.

For example, a basic principle which has been proven invaluable in the field of medicine is the the germ theory which postulates germs cause [infectious] disease: The observation made by Alexander Fleming that some microbes secrete a substance which kills germs was worthy of further exploration because… maybe microbial secretions can kill the germs which cause disease. And a revolution in the fight against infectious disease was born.

It is perhaps unfair to compare the social science of economics to three mature fields of physical science but economics plays a role in public policy that is second to none. In fact, economic policy arguably has a greater impact on the everyday lives of every person on the planet than much of the cutting edge research in all the physical sciences. This being the case, all people have a right and duty to expect the highest and most rigorous standard of theoretic and applied economics be practiced when used to determine policy which effects the lives of everyone within its sphere of influence.