Economics Flashcards
Factors of production
crude oil, labor. Firms are buyers in product markets
Services and finished goods
cars, clothing etc. Firms are sellers in product markets
Law of Demand
Quantity demanded typically increases at lower prices and decreases at higher prices
Law of Supply
Increase in price results in an increase in the quantity supplied
To find the market supply or demand you must ___
multiply the coefficients by the number of participating firms
Stable Equilibrium
When there are forces that move price and quantity back towards equilibrium values when they deviate from those values
Unstable Equilibrium
If the supply curve is less steeply sloped than the demand curve, prices above or below equilibrium will tend to get further from equilibrium
Common Value Auction
Value of item to be auctioned will be the same to any bidder, but the bidders do not know the value at the time of the auction (oil lease auctions). All bidders must determine what the value is. Winner’s curse is when the bidder overestimates
Private Value Auction
Auction of art or collectibles
English Auction or Ascending Price Auction
Bidders can bid an amount greater than the previous high bid ad the bidder that first offers the highest bid of the auction wins the item
Sealed Bid Auction
Each bidder provides one bid which is unknown to other bidders
Second Price Sealed Bid Auction
Bidder submitting highest bid wins but pays price of the second bidder
Reservation Price
The highest bid that a bidder is willing to pay
Descending Price Auction (Dutch Auction)
Begins with the price greater than what any bidder will pay, this price is reduced until a bidder agrees to pay it
Noncompetitive Bid
Indicates those bidders will accept the amount of Treasuries indicated at the price determined by the auction, rather than specifying a maximum price
Consumer Surplus
The difference between the total value to consumers of the units of a good that they buy and the total amount they must pay for those units
Producer Surplus
The excess of the market price above the opportunity cost of production or total revenue minus the total variable cost of producing those units
The efficient quantity of a good for a producer
is also the quantity of production that maximizes total consumer surplus and producer surplues
Allocation of Resources is efficient if…
it maximizes the sum of consumer and producer surplus. Any excess or shortage is known as deadweight loss
Price Controls
rent control and minimum wage
Taxes and Trade Restrictions
subsidies and quotas. Taxes increase the price that buyers pay and decrease the amount sellers receive. Subsidies effectively increase the amount sellers receive and decrease the price buyers pay, leading to production of more goods
Quotas are imposed production limits, resulting in production of less than the efficient quantity of the good
External Benefits
Result in demand curves that do not represent the societal benefit of the good or service, so the equilibrium quantity produced and consumed is less the efficient quantity
External Costs
Result in an over-allocation of resources to production by the polluting firms
Public Goods
Consumed by people regardless of whether or not you paid for them. I.e national defense