Chapter 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Scarcity

A

A situation in which the ingredients for producing the things that people desire are insufficient to satisfy all wants at a zero price.

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2
Q

Production

A

Any activity that results in the conversion of resources into products that can be used in consumption.

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3
Q

Land

A

The natural resources that are available from nature. Land as a resource includes location, original fertility and mineral deposits, topography, climate, water, and vegetation.

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4
Q

Labor

A

Productive contributions of humans who work.

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5
Q

Physical Capital

A

All manufactured resources, including buildings, equipment, machines, and improvements to land that are used for production.

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6
Q

Human Capital

A

The accumulated training and education of workers.

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7
Q

Entrepreneurship

A

The component of human resources that performs the functions of raising capital, organizing, managing, and assembling other factors of production, making basic business policy decisions, and taking risks.

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8
Q

Goods

A

All things from which individuals derive satisfaction or happiness.

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9
Q

Economic Goods

A

Goods that are scarce, for which the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied at a zero price.

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10
Q

Services

A

Mental or physical labor or help purchased by consumers. Examples are the assistance of physicians, lawyers, dentists, repair personnel, housecleaners, educators, retailers, and wholesalers; items purchased or used by consumers that do not have physical characteristics.

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11
Q

Opportunity Cost

A

The highest-valued, next-best alternative that must be sacrificed to obtain something or satisfy a want.

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12
Q

Production Possibilities Curve (PPC)

A

A curve representing all possible combinations of maximum outputs that could be produced assuming a fixed amount of productive resources of a given quality.

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13
Q

Technology

A

Society’s pool of applied knowledge concerning how goods and services can be produced.

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14
Q

Efficiency

A

The case in which a given level of inputs is used to produce the maximum output possible. Alternatively, the situation in which a given output is produced at minimum cost.

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15
Q

Inefficient Point

A

Any point below the PPC, at which the use of resources is not generating the maximum possible output.

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16
Q

Law of Increasing Additional Cost

A

The fact that the opportunity cost of additional units of a good generally increases as society attempts to produce more of that good. This accounts for the bowed-out shape of the PPC.

17
Q

Consumption

A

The use of and goods and services for personal satisfaction.

18
Q

Specialization

A

The organization of economic activity so that what each person (or region) consumes is not identical to what that person (or region) produces. An individual may specialize, for example, in law or medicine. A nation may specialize in the production of coffee, e-book readers, or digital cameras.

19
Q

Comparative Advantage

A

The ability to produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost compared to other producers.

20
Q

Absolute Advantage

A

The ability to produce more units of a good or service using a given quantity of labor or resource inputs. Equivalently, the ability to produce the same quantity of a good or service using fewer units of labor or resource inputs.

21
Q

Division of Labor

A

The segregation of resources into specific tasks; for example, one automobile worker puts on bumpers, another doors, and so on.