KEY DEFINITIONS Flashcards
Relative prices
the price of one good or service in terms of another
Allocative efficiency
Using resources in ways that maximise society’s satisfaction in terms of needs and wants and living standards
Productive efficiency
Maximum outputs for given inputs
Increased productivity
Increased outputs for fixed inputs
Equilibrium price
The market price when quantity demanded equals quantity supplied
Demand
Willingness and ability of consumers to purchase at every given price point
Supply
Willingness and ability of producers to supply at every given price point
Opportunity cost
The benefit foregone by choosing one alternative over another
PPF
Production possibility frontier - looks at the trade off of producing two goods or services
Shortage
When the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied
Surplus
When the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded
Law of demand
Describes the inverse relationship between the price of a product and the quantity demanded. As price increases, the quantity demanded for the product decreases
Law of supply
Describes the positive relationship between the price of a product and the quantity supplied.
Price rises = businesses incentivised to increase the quantity supplied
Material living standards
Living standards as measured by the ability of individuals to access goods and services. Measured using real GDP per capita.
Non-material living standards
aspects of a person’s standard of living not related to goods and services but instead related to their overall quality-of-life factors
Price elasticity of supply
A measure of the responsiveness / sensitivity of quantity supplied (QS) to changes in price ($)
Price elasticity of demand
(PED) is a measure of the responsiveness / sensitivity of quantity demanded (QD) to changes in price ($).
Dynamic efficiency:
The speed at which resources are reallocated from one area of production to another in response to a change in consumer preferences or tastes.
If staff and firms become adaptive and innovative in production and apply the best technology available. Achieving allocative efficiency over time.
Inter-temporal efficiency
When a firm, government or nation achieves the right balance between resources used for current and future consumption.
Interest rates
An interest rate is the price of the cost of money
Disposable income
The personal income that is available for spending. It is gross income less direct tax, interest, and transfers payments
Cost of production (product cost)
Refer to the costs incurred by a business from manufacturing a product or providing a service
Technical change
Refers to either a new form of physical capital that improves productivity growth or a new production technique that improves productivity growth
Market failure
Occurs in a free market which fails to achieve an efficient allocation of economic resources. An over or under allocation of economic resources relative to the socially optimum level.
The socially optimum level of resource allocation
Is an allocation of resources that considers both private and social costs and benefits. Socially optimum level = private cost + social cost
Economic activity
Refers to behaviour concerned with production, consumption, and income-earning.
Economic growth
An increase in the size of a country’s economy over a period. The size of an economy is measured by the total production of goods and services (output) in the economy
Nominal GDP and Real GDP
Nominal GDP is the market value of all final products produced domestically, in a period, at current prices. Equals AD
Real GDP is nominal GDP adjusted for changes in prices to measure changes in the volume of output.
The five-sector circular flow of income model
Illustrates the relationship between spending, income, and output. The five-sector model represents the components of AD growth.
Aggregate demand and its equation
AD is the total intended expenditure on domestic production.
AD is the sum of C + I + G + NX
The exchange rates
The value of one currency in terms of another
Inflation
A sustained increase in the average level of prices (the price level).
The business cycle
Refers to real GDP growth rate fluctuations above and below the full employment level of output over time.