EC120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Coordinate System
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EC120 Full Course Notes
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Ec120 lecture 2 economist as a scientist. Curves in the coordinate system: economist often look at how one variable affects another, holding everything else constant, example the demand and supply and how they are affected by each other not anything else. In economics, it is important to distinguish between movements along a curve and shifts of a curve: a variable that is not named on the graph changes, the curve shifts. Slopes: slope is a ratio of the vertical distance covered to the horizontal distance on a line, mathematical representation -> slope = delta y/ delta x. Or does having more crime cause more police hiring: nothing in the graph itself allows us to stablish the direction of causality. The economist as policy adviser: when economists are trying to explain the world, they are scientist, when they are trying to help improve it, they are policy advisers.
