Exam-1 Chapter 3 Global Economic System Flashcards
(127 cards)
What are the basic economic questions?
What to produce?
How to produce?
Who benefits?
Economic system
A method of answering the three questions is called the economic system.
There are two primary economic systems in use today
Capitalism and socialism
No country is hundred percent of either.
A country with the features of both capitalism and socialism is called
Mixed economy
Capitalism requires
Private ownership of capital.
The questions and capitalism are answered by
The use of markets
What is the guiding motivation in capitalism?
Self-interest
Socialism
Socialism relies on the government ownership of capital, planning as the allocation mechanism of markets and social interest motivations
Markets are
Voluntary
Market provide incentives to both
The buyers and sellers because they can gain from exchange
Markets also promote
Efficiency and innovation by businesses trying to maximize their profits
Workers also have an incentive to be efficient
Because their compensation should be based on their production
Decision making in capitalism is
Decentralized
In a planned economy Who makes all the decisions?
Government agency
Why do incentives in planned economies different from those in capitalism
Since the society, not the individual, stands to gain from individual efforts.
Why do markets fail?
Markets failed because of several reasons factors notably public goods , externalities, asymmetric information, and monopoly power.
Public goods
Are nonexclusive a non-rivalrous.
They are under produced by markets because people can free ride.
When do externalities occur?
When a transaction brings cost or benefits to someone other than those directly involved in the transaction.
Name two types of externalities
Externalities can be either positive or negative and can result in either over or under production of a good.
Asymmetric information
Occurs hen either the buyer or seller knows important information about an exchange that the other does not.
Asymmetric information can result in
Goods being wrongly priced or withdrawn from markets
When does monopoly power exist?
Monopoly power exist when markets are insufficiently competitive.
What are the results of monopoly power?
It may result in higher prices and inefficiency.
When does monopsony exist?
When there is one buyer of a good, it allows the monopsonist to influence prices paid.