Micro- 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the production possibility frontiers

A

The Production Possibility Curve (PPC) is an economic model that considers the maximum possible production (output) that a country can generate if it uses all of its factors of production to produce only two goods/services

Many PPC diagrams show capital goods and consumer goods on the axes
Capital goods are assets that help a firm or nation to produce output (manufacturing). For example, a robotic arm in a car manufacturing company is a capital good

Consumer goods are end products and have no future productive use. For example, a watch

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2
Q

How is the environment a scarce resource

A

It’s only limited amount of resource on planet made up of renewable and non renewable resources

With non renewable resources- stock level decreases over time so cannot be renews
This can be fossil fuel such as coal , natural gas
Finding substitute such as wing farms can reduce rate of decline of resources

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3
Q

Determinants of demand

A

-PIRATES

Population- demographic- greater population = more people in the UK to demand……= demand will shift to the right
Recently UK is experiencing increase in aging population = living longer= more in the economy so = increase in demand for wheelchair

Incomes- we need to make distinction between normal and inferior goods=
Interior goods-if income goes up= demand go down as there’s more disposable income= able to afford high quality goods

Related goods
- substitute- can be replace with another food such as brand of TV.= if price of substitute fall= quantity demand of original food falls as consumer will switch to the cheapest option

  • complement good- if price for one good increases = demand for the other good decease

Advertising
Good advertising affects our willingness to buy something / good advertising shift the demand curve from___ increasing demand from Q___ to Q___ regardless of price
Can also increase consumer loyalty

Taste and fashion
The demand curve also shift if consumer taste change such as demand for physical book might fall if consumers start preferring to read e -books

Expectation
- this is of future price change. If speculators expect price of shares in a company to increase in the future demand likely to be present

Seasons
- summer= demand for ice cream, lotion, winter

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4
Q

Factors influencing PED

A

Necessity good- will negative demand even if price increases consumer still demand= liekly to be unresponsive to change in price

Substitute - such as android and I phone 1 demand more price elasticity

Peak and off peak demand- during peak times for train demand more price inelastic

Addictions or habitual consumption - demand for cigs is not sensitive to Chang run price as consumers addicted
This can be coffee , junk, video games

Time
In the short run products Kiley to be price inelastic as consumers find it difficult to change shopping habits
Or don’t have enough options to change

In long run products likely to be priced elastic as consumer adjust to changing market conditions
Or find substitute

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5
Q

If firm sells good with inelastic demand, if they are likely put most of the tax burn on

A

Consumers as they know price increase will not cause demand to fall significantly
Increase in tax will decrease supply from s1 to s2 which increase price form. P1 to p2 therefor demand contracts

Most effective for raining government revenue

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6
Q

What is supply

A

Is the quantity of good or service s producer is able and willing to supply are given price during a given period of time

Upward sloping as price increase = its more profitable for firms to supply .
Also with larger output = firms cost increase so they need to charge higher price to cover the cost

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7
Q

Factors affecting shift of supply

A

Productivity - higher productivity = outward shot as average cost falls= shift supply to right

Indirect tax

Number of firms= more supply

Technology

Subsidies

Weather

Cost of production

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8
Q

Factors influencing PES

A

Time scale - in short run supply more inelastic so producer cannot quickly increase supply

Spare capacity if firm operating at full capacity = there’s no space left to increase supply
If there’s spare resource = supply can be increase quickly

Barriers to entry
Means supply more price inelastic as it’s difficult for new firms to enter and supply the market

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9
Q

Definition of derived demand , composite demand, joint demand, joint supply and composite supply

A
  • derived demand is when the demand for one good is linked to the demand for a related good

For example for brick is devised from demand of building new house

Composite demand - when demand for a good which has more than one use such as milk. Means increase in demand for one use of good reduce supply of the good for an alternative use

Joint demand are complements - are product bought alongside another
- product that are consumers together
Increase in demand for one good will increase demand for a complementary good

Joint supply when production of a product creates a by product that can also be supplied

Composite supply - when provision of a g/ s come from variety of source, such as heat comes from gas or electricity

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10
Q

Formula for productivity and labour productivity

A

Productivity = the total output per period of time/ number of inits of FOP

Labour productivity = total output per period of time/ number of units of labour

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11
Q

Importance of labour productivity

A

Advance in technology = leading worker dot being equipped , lead to increase in labour productivity

Can arise from more better education and training

Is an important determinant of how competitive firms and countries are

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12
Q

What is specialization and division of labour

A

Specialization involves an individual worker , firm , region or country producing a specific g/s.
Occurs when each worker completes a specific task in the production process

Division of labour refers to specialization at the level of individual learner. Breaking down the production process into seperste task upon specialization

Advantages
There’s more competition= gives incentive for firms to lower their cost , helps keeps price down

Reduce the time spent moving between task and workstation = increase productivity as they are more efficient= drives up wage

Higher output due to machinery,, potentially higher quality , since production focus on what people and business best at
Hep solve the problem of scarcity as there will be a greater supply of goods/services to meet unlimited wants = allocative efficiency

Disadvantage
Work becomes repetitive = could lower motivation of workers, potentially affecting quality and productivity

Workers could become dissatisfied= higher turnover rates

Could be more structural unemployment
Since skills might not be transferable = cause worker to have focus on the task for long = bad longing standards= put a drag on government finance

Change in fashion and taste = don’t diversify

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13
Q

Importance of trade and exchange

A

Countries can specialize in production of a certain goods such as Norway is one of the largest oil exporters

Country trade to get the good and service they unable to produce

Specialization and division of labour only viable if there’s an efficient system of exchange

Contrite can exploit their comparative advantage = produce good at a lower opportunity cost to another
Absolute advantage occurs when country produce more of a good with the same factor input

Advantages
There’s and outward shift in the ppf = greater world output so there’s gain in economic welfare

There’s increase in supply of food to choose from

Lower average cost- since market becomes more competitive

Disadvantage
Less developed countries might use up their non renewable resources too quickly

Countries could become over dependent on export of one commodity such as wheat
If there poor weather condition or price fall = economy will suffer

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14
Q

Function of money

A

A system of exchange involving money as a medium of exchange
Avoid the need of bartering ( when goods and services supply are traded with other goods/services but people not always get what they needed and want

Exchange could only take place if there’s coincidences of wants. Using money eliminates the problem

  • money provided a means to measure the relative values of different g/s such as a piece jewelry might be considered more valuable than a table as the relative price measured by money

Also money had to hold its value to be used for payment . It can be kept for a long time without expiring
However the quantity of g/s that can be bought with money fluctuate slightly with forces of supply and demand

Money allows debt to be able to be created
People can therefore pay for things without having money present and pay for it later.
This relies on money storing its value

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15
Q

Economies of scale
Internal

A

When long run average for falls as output increase

Internal economies of scale occurs within business :

Risk bearing - when firms become large , they can expand their production range
= can spread the cost of uncertainty = if not successful they have other products to rely on

Financial - banks willing to lend loans more cheaply to larger firms as they are demand less risky = larger firms take advantage of cheaper credit
Can negotiate lower interest rates rate

Managerial - larger firms are more able to specialize and divide their labour = managers can monitor productivity of the workforce and boost the productivity of worker , also bring skills= therefore quantity rising than total cost

Technological- larger firms can afford to invest in more advanced, productive machinery= lower their average cost= boost productivity as firms using factory efficiently. Quantity rising faster

Marketing - larger firms can divide their marketing budgets across larger outputs so the AC of advertising per unit is less than that of smaller firms

Purchasing - larger firms can bulk buy = each unit will cost them less such as supermarket have more buying power from farmers than corner shops, sho they can negotiate better deals
Cost rising but at a slower rate

There’s also network EOS
There are gained from an expansion of e commerce
Larger online shops such as eBay can add extra good and service at very low cost but the revenue gained from it will be significantly higher

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16
Q

What is external economies of scale

A

Occur within the industry such as local road much improve so transport cost for local industries will fall

Also might be more training facilities., more r and d, also Lower AC for firms in local area
- new airport , new railway lines= reduce cost= cheaper to sell good , cheaper to access raw materials
R and d firm may move closer = see your a key business = improve tech = reduce cost= AC then fall

17
Q

HOWEVER

A

If business gets too big = suffer economies of scale= increase in LRAC as output increases
This is due to

Control- becomes harder to monitor how productive workforce is as firms become larger. If worker know manager isn’t monitoring strictly= may slack off = mean quantity suffer, TC rise faster than quantity = bring up AC rise

Coordination- coordinating different part of business gets difficult.
To make sure all business departing working in same way , it’s diffuse ( hr , IT, marketing) productivity is gong to suffer therefore cost rise faster than quantity

Communication- worker may got great ideas to improve efficiency of the business but can spread their message quickly to those higher = takes time , effort to send message . Or won’t be clear
Impact productivity = therefore cost rise faster than quantity

Motivation- as business gets larger= means more workers= each individual worker feel less valued = feel easily replaced( dispensable).= hit your motivation = lower productivity = fall of worker in company = cost rising much faster than quantity going to be rising

18
Q

What is the difference between normal and supernormal profit

A

Normal profit -is the minimum reward required to keep entrepreneurs supplying their enterprise
It covers the opportunity cost of investing funds into firm and not elsewhere
This is when AC= AR
Normal profit considered a cost so it’s included in the cost of production

Supernormal profit is profit above normal profit
It exceed the value of opportunity cost of investing funds into the firm
This is when TR> TC

19
Q

The role of profit in a market economy

A

In a free market economy , profit is the reward that entrepreneurs yield when they take risk and make investment

An entrepreneur want to avoid loss, gain profit= makes them want to innovate, so they can reduce their production cost, improve quality of their products
Entrepreneur seek to maximise their profits

Profits can be returned = kept within firm and not given to shareholders as dividends = this can be a source of finance for firms if they choose to make an investment
Helps avoid cost of interest payment if they borrow money

Profit also act as a signal to firms and consumers such as in market where firm make supernormal profits= likely to be new firms entering the market since market seems profitable
- this increase maker supply =lower market price.
This assumes market is contestable , there are no barriers to entry

20
Q

Technological change spec

A

-. The difference between invention and innovation

  • technological change can affect methods of production

Technological change can lead to development of new products, the development of new market and may destroy existing markets

Technological change can influence the strictest of market

21
Q

What is technological change and the difference between between invention and innovation

A

Technological change describes the overall effect of innovation, invention and the spread of technology in the economy

The difference between invention and innovation
Invention- the process of creating a new product or a new way to make a product

Innovation- the act of improving or contributing to existing products
Such as apple innovation in smartphones with iPhone transformed the mobile phone market by integrating multiple functions into a single device

22
Q

How technological change can affect productivity and efficiency and firms cost of production

A

Technological change can result improvement in efficiency and productivity which lowers cost of production for fimrs.
The quality and quantity of g/s produced might improve

Such as mobile phones have become cheaper to produced , which is why their price has fallen .
More importantly their quality improves significantly due to improvement in technology

Technological change improve productive efficiency- producing at a level where it’s average production cost care minimized= lower cost= shift curve down= EOS

Also dynamically efficient = able to innovate and improve productive efficiency in a sustained manner

Another example introduction of computer aided design software has significantly increased the productivity of architects and engineers

  • with specialization and division of labour in human workforce brought about labour productivity = done with specialized machinery
23
Q

Technological change affecting method of production

A
  • new tech= workplace has become increasing mechanized and automated
    Mechanization involves more machinery , more capital intensive methods of production

Automation -. Implementation of tech that reduce the needs for labour

Tc has lead to more capital intensive production such as car production - use of robot to replace workers = led to more capital intensive production in that industry

-. But tc can also lead to more labour intensive production such as as medial service - lots of new technology advancement so may require use of labour to operate them

So it depends on industry- may have increase jobs

24
Q

Technological change can lead to

A

-. New development of new products , development of new market and many destroy existing markets

Such as development of DVD, then blue rays , now rise of download films, has essentially destroyed the market for DVD

So the process of creative destruction is linked to technological change

25
Q

What is creative destruction

A

Schumpeter an economist proposed the idea of creative destruction

Idea that new entrepreneurs are innovative, chock challenge existing firms
The more productive= firms then grow whilst the least productive are forced to leave the market ,. This results in an expansion oft the economy productive potential

However loss of jobs= unemployment

Real world examples
Taxi market. , rise of Uber destroying traditional taxi services , listening to music online

26
Q

How can technological change influence structure of market

A
  • distribution of traditional market
    Monopolies do not have an incentive to innovate, since they they have no competition
    = this means they are often inefficient and their cost are higher then they could be

Oligopolies tend to have more incentive to innovate since they are earning supernormal profit and trying to get ahead of their competitors
= this means that technological change quite fast in oligopolies
Therefore certain technologies may lead to dominance of few large firms = increase barriers to entry due to tech EOS
Such as smartphone market is dominated by small number of market players

In some industries tech change has made market entry much easier= due to internet= low barriers to entry = less need of physicals premises= start up cost low , sunk cost low, causing a shift in market structure away from monopolistic/ oligopolistic structure
Such as buying tickets online
Also adverting make it easier to do with greater role of the internet= reduce brand loyalty aspect on barriers to entry

However other industries = opposite = such advance tech may be expensive , or difficult to enter market

Globalisation - tech enable companies to operate on a global scale= impacting market dynamics = e commerce platforms = connected buyers and seller globally = re shaping traditional retail markets

27
Q

Why has technological change been moving in rapid pace in recent period of time

A
  • knowledge has been improving
    R and d
    Greater source of funding for such investment to taken place
28
Q

Technological change evaluation

A
  • tech desirable as more firms will be in the market. = more competition if barriers are low
    Less firms = more monopoly outcome

So TC offering market structure by becominng more competitive or more concentrated depends on industry
= so apply it to the characteristics of the industry

So existing market can be disrupted by technical progress = makes g/s outdated

Conclusion
Business seeking long term success in the real world that is always changing must embrace technical innovation

  • (. Beneficial for labour/. Worker in long run?????