Microecon chapter 1 Flashcards
(43 cards)
Issues of Pressing Concern (7)
- COVID-19 pandemic
- Population aging
- Climate change
- Productivity growth and accelerating technological change
- Rising protectionism
- Growing income inequality
- Government debt and priorities
What is economics?
The study of the use of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited human wants
Resources (3)
- Land
- Labour
- Capital
Resources synonym
Factor of production
Goods are…
Tangible
Services are…
Intangible
Production is…
Act of making goods/services
Consumption is…
Act of using goods/services
Scarcity/Choice (3)
- Relative to our desire, existing resources are scarce
- Not enough resources to produce the goods/services that we want
- Scarcity implies the need for choice
Opportunity cost
The value of the next best alternative that is forgone when one alternative is chosen
Points that lie on or inside the budget line are…
Attainable
Points that lie outside the budget line are…
Unattainable
PPB stands for…
Production Possibilities Boundary
PPB illustrates… (3)
- Scarcity
- Choice
- Opportunity cost
Points on the PPB are…
Attainable and efficient
Points inside the PPB are…
Attainable and inefficient
Points outside the PPB are…
Unattainable
Four key economic problem
- What is produced and how?
- What is consumed and by whom?
- What are resources sometimes idle?
- Is productive capacity growing?
Resource allocation
Determines the quantities of various goods that are produced
Idle resources
Resources that are not currently being used
Economic growth for the PPB (3)
- Boundary shifts outwards
- Unattainable points become attainable and efficient
- Previous efficient points become inefficient
What can affect the outcome of the economic problems?
Government policies
GP for production
Correct market failures resulting from misallocation of resources
GP for consumption
Address fairness of distribution of consumption across individuals