Visiting Scotland: Thinking about the scope of economics

I read about Adam Smith before knowing about Scotland. Therefore, my connection to Scotland is more of Economics and Market than the Country itself. Sorry if it hurts.

I studied economics as a module in 1987, which included market, labour market, demand, supply, price and inflation. I also read about invisible hands. However, my understanding of invisible hands became firm in 2015 while studying business ethics. It took me almost three decades to internalise the knowledge of invisible hands.

Until a few months ago, my understanding of economics was still somewhere around supply, demand, fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate and trade balance. Now it seems like everything we do falls under economics. That is to say, the policies we make, the advocates we do, the discussions we start and the value we pay for people fall under the economics. I am convinced after reading Freakonomics (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner), listening to From Moral to Sentiments (Mark Carney) and watching Justice (Michael Sandel).

To be honest, which falls under which subject area is not my concern. But I am just wondering – isn’t it too greedy to capture the discussion of ‘friend with benefits’ and ‘marking assessments in school’ within the scope of economics?