ONLINE ECON Flashcards
What is Economics
The study of how people deal with scarcity.
Scarcity
Unlimited wants, limited resources.
Trade-Offs
All the options that are given up when a choice is made
Opportunity Cost
The next best option that is given up when a choice is made
Factors of Production
Land – natural resources
Labor – people and their skills
Capital – tools, machinery, factories
Entrepreneur – risk-taker that starts new businesses
Three Basic Questions of Economics
What to produce?
How to produce?
For whom to produce?
Division of Labor
Assigning workers small tasks
Specialization of Labor
Assigning each worker the task he is best at
What does a PPC show?
A PPC shows opportunity cost.
What shifts a PPC outward?
An increase or improvement in:
Technology
Labor
Capital
Taxes and gov’t regulations
Inputs
Resource used to make a good or service
Outputs
The good or the service
Economic System (aka an Economy)
Organized way to provide for the needs and wants of a society.
Three Major Economic Systems
Traditional – based on ritual/custom
Market – private citizens control the resources
Command – government controls the resources
Private Goods
Provided by businesses
Public Goods
Provided by the government
Capitalism (Market Economy)
Private ownership
Profit motive (people work for their own self-interest)
Competition among sellers
Little government regulation
Lots of freedom, growth, efficiency
Communism (Command Economy)
Government owns everything
No profit motive or incentive to work hard
Government has total control
Little freedom, growth, efficiency
High taxes
Consumer Sovereignty
Ultimately, consumers decide what will be made because each purchase is a “vote”
Adam Smith
Father of Capitalism; wrote about the invisible hand
Karl Marx
Father of Communism; wrote about the bourgeoisie (upper class) and the proletariat (lower class)
Mixed Economy
Any economy that has characteristics of more than one economic system
Three Types of Business Organization
Sole Proprietorship – owned by one person
Partnership – owned by more than one person
Corporation – legally separate from its owners
Four Types of Market Structure
(From most competitive to least competitive)
Perfect Competition
Monopolistic Competition
Oligopoly
Monopoly