Economics Flashcards
Five key concepts
Scarcity
Trade offs
Incenstives
Marginal Analysis
Optimising choices and their outcome (equilibrium)
What is Scarcity
the desire for something exceeds what is available so we have to choose where they go
Trade Offs
Due to scarcity we have to make trade offs
oppurtunity cost
The benefit you give up when you choose one option over another
Marginalism
Focuses on the effects of small changes in economics variables such as price quality or time
Efficient Market
A market in which profit opportunities are eliminated almost instantaneously
Slope Equation
change in Y / change in X = (y2-y1) / (m2-m1)
production
the process of transforming scarce reosurces into useful goods or services
inputs
the reousrces or facors of production that go into the process of production
outputs
goods and services of value to households that come out of production
Theory of competitive advantage
Specialization and free trade will benefit all trading parties even those that may be absolutely more efficient producers
Absolute advantage
A producer has an absolute advantage in the production of a good or service if he or she can produce that product using fewer resources
Comparative advantage
A country should specialize in producing goods and services in which it has a lower opportunity cost compared to other countries.
Consumer goods
goods produced for presetn consumption
The marginal transformation
The slope of the production possibility frontier
Consumer Soverignty
The idea that consumers ultimately dictate what will be produced or not by choosing what to buy and what not to
equillibirum (in perfect comeptition market)
where price = marginal cost
choice set or oppurtunity set
the set of options that is defined and limited by the budget constraint
Budget Constraint
Price of good x quantity of good x + price of y and quantity of y = household income
Utility
The satisfaction a product gives
law of diminishing marginal
utility
The more of any one
good consumed in a given
period, the less satisfaction
(utility) generated by consuming
each additional (marginal) unit
of the same good.
Marginal Utility
The additional satisfaction gained by the consumption or use of one more unit of a good or service