Scarcity
● Limited resources and cannot produce all the goods and services
---> Trees, land, minerals, time (goods and services)
Economics and Economists
● Study of how society manages its scarce resources
● Study how people make decisions
1. People face tradeoffs (tradeoff: giving up something to get something in return)
Efficiency (society is getting maximum benefits from its scarce resources)
● Scarce resources ----> maximum benefits
Equity (the benefits of these resources divided fairly)
● Fairness
2. The cost of something is what you give up to get
● Opportunity cost (value of the next best alternative)
3. Rational people think at the margin (edge)
● Rational: (choosing the best option for “myself”), self-interested (not the same)
● Rational people do the best they can to achieve their objectives
● Marginal changes are small incremental adjustments to an existing plan of action
Marginal example: If a movie costs 15$, and one hour in, I don’t like the movie and there is one
more hour left, I decide how to spend my time. I can either sit at the movie or do anything else.
The cost for the movie is now a sunk cost. If the marginal benefit is greater than the marginal
cost, I would do anything else.
4. People respond to incentives
Incentives
● Induce people to act
Incentive example: If the tax on gasoline rises, the incentive would be to take the bus, bike, or
get a more fuel efficient car.
, 5. Trade can make everyone better off
● Trade ---> specialize ---> greater variety of goods and services
6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity
● Market <--- resources allocated <--- decentralized decisions (firms and households)
7. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes
---> market failure: Situation in which the market fails to produce an efficient allocations of
resources
---> market outcome not efficient
---> externalities (pollution, bystander, etc): Impact of one’s actions on the well-being of a
bystander
---> impacts on bystanders
---> market power
---> huge influence
8. A country’s standard of living depend on its ability to produce goods and services
● Durage income
Productivity (amount of goods and services produced from each unit of labour input)
---> quantity of goods and services
Higher productivity ---> higher standard of living
9. People rise when the government prints too much money
Inflation ---> an increase in the overall level of prices
10. There is a short run in trade off between inflation and unemployment
● High unemployment ---> low inflation
● Low unemployment ---> high inflation
● Business cycle: short-run fluctuations in economic activity (irregular unpredictable
fluctuations in economic activity)
Chapter 2: Thinking like an economist
Theory and observation
● Ideas
● Actions
,Assumptions
---> simplify complex problems
Models
---> simplified representation
Circular flow diagram (depicts simple economy), (simplifies economy)
● Two types of decision makers
Households: own land, labour, capital, and consume goods and services
Firms: use the factors of production to produce goods and services using inputs
● Two types of markets
Market for goods and services: Households (buyers) ---> buy goods and services ---> output
produced by firms (sellers)
Market for factors of production: Firms ---> use the factor of production to produce goods and
services
The possibilities production frontier (graph that shows the various combinations of output)
Various combinations of outputs <--- economy can potentially produce <--- available
technologies and factors of production
, Microeconomics: decisions and interactions of individuals and firms
Macroeconomics: economy wide phenomena
Positive statements: describe the way the world is (tested data)
Normative statements: claims about how the world should be (ethics)
Economists
● Cannot test data
● Pay attention to the natural experiments by history
● Make assumptions to simplify things
● Use models to learn about the world
● Use diagrams and equations
● May disagree about the validity of alternative positive theories about how the world
works
● May have different values and different normative views
Chapter 5: Measuring a Nation’s Income
Income and Expenditure
---> Total income = Total expenditure (whole economy)
Circular flow diagram:
Measuring Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
---> GDP is the market value (market prices) of all final goods and services (chairs, houses,
dentist, …) produced within a country in a given period of time
The expenditure approach:
GDP = Y = C + I + G + NX
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller chloeduquette. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.