ECON 203 Notes for Lectures 1&2 Introduction
to Macroeconomics (Concordia University)
, lOMoAR cPSD| 6353920
1
: Introduction to Macroeconomics – Curtis, Irvine
Notes for Lectures – 01 & 02
Ch. 1: Introduction to Key Ideas Ch. 2:
Theories, Data and Beliefs
Ch. 3: The Classical Marketplace – Demand & Supply
Economics
• Economics is the study of human behaviour.
• It uses scientific methods. This is why it is called a social science.
• We study human behaviour to better understand and improve our world
Scarcity
• Scarcity means that individuals and societies have limited resources and thereforecannot
produce “all” the goods and services we wish to have.
• Wants are unlimited, while the resources are limited or finite.
• Scarcity is not shortage or poverty, as rich and poor individuals and societies face thesame
dilemma: their resources are limited in comparison to all of their wants.
• Therefore, scarcity is a relative term.
• All economic questions arise from the single and inescapable fact: we cannot alwayshave
everything we want.
Consequences of Scarcity
• Scarcity implies constraints that create the need for decisions in making choices.
• Decisions refer to the “management of resources” or “how to allocate scarceresources
among competing uses”.
• Making decisions to choose what to do implies trading off one goal against another
• Making good decisions for the improvement of the society is the objective
• Decisions require comparing costs and benefits of alternatives
• The cost of something can be financial, it can be measured in time, or the forgonealternative
(what one gives up to get it)
• Opportunity cost of an item is what one gives up to obtain it
• Opportunity Cost of a Society’s decision: The benefit forgone by not using the
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