4.1.2 Flashcards
(35 cards)
define economic agent
someone who makes decisions to allocate scare resources
define utility
satisfaction from consuming a quantity of a good/service
margin utility and price equation
MU of A/Price of A = MU of B/Price of B = MU of C/Price of C
define income
money received regularly from selling your labour
define wealth
abundance of valuable assets/possessions/money held by someone at a point in time
define unearned income
income from private means instead of work
e.g. rent, dividens
define consumption
the act of using up a resource
define interest
charge for the privilege of borrowing money
define marginal utility
change in utility from an increase in consumption of a good
how to work out marginal utility on a table
previous total utility + marginal utility in the same row
CHECK TU + MU GRAPH CURVES
CHECK FOLDER
what do economic agents do?
behave rationally -> act consistently with interests
has complete knowledge
acts solely in self interest
aims to maximise personal satisfacition
how can satisfaction be assessed
by the price someone is willing to pay for a product
what does measuring marginal utility allow us to do
derive the demand curve
how can you tell if total utility has increased
if marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost
how can you tell if total utility has decreased
if marginal benefit is below marginal cost
define total utility
total satisfaction from consuming a given total quantity of a good/service
unit for utility?
util
define perfect info
info available to economic agent is accurate + economic agent has all info needed to make a rational decisions
define asymmetric info
1 economic agent involved in a transaction knows more than the other agent
imbalance of power affects transaction
define moral hazard
when an economic agent takes more risks because someone else is likely to bare the full costs of these risks
define market failure
when operation of the free markets leads to mis-allocation of resources
define information failure
some/all economic agents involved in an economic transaction don’t have perfect knowledge
how can the internet help overcome problems from asymmetric info?
price comparison websites
use to find extra + a range of info