ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scientific Method, Opportunity Cost

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22 Sep 2016

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Economics employ the scientific method- the dispassionate development and testing of theories about how the world works. Assumptions simplify the complex world, make it easier to understand. Model: a highly simplified representation of a more complicated reality. The circular-flow diagram: a visual model of the economy, shows how dollars flow through markets among households and firms. 2 markets: the market for goods and services & the market for factors of production. Factors: land, labor, capital (buildings and machines used in productions) Households- own factors of production, sell/rent to firms for income; buy and consume the firms goods and services. Firms: buy/hire the factors of production, produce goods, then sell goods and services to households. A graph that shows the combinations of two goods the economy can possibly produce given the available resources and the available technology. Points on the ppf: possible and efficient(all resources fully utilized) Points under the ppf: possible but not efficient.

Related Questions

What is the market for factors of production?

What is the market for factors of production?
1. The market for factors of production is where households and firms interact to trade factors of production for factor payments. For example this is where people provide firms with labor and firms pay them with wages.
What is the money market?
1. The money market is where households, firms, and the government may save and/or invest their money to earn interests. Money market includes banks, stock market, bonds market, and other financial institutions where economic actors can buy and sell financial assets to earn interests and/or dividends.
Who are the three economic actors in the circular flow model?
1. In a circular flow model, the three main economic actors are the households, firms, and the government. Households include the typical individual consumers. Firms include businesses and similar producers in the economy. Finally, the government refers to the whole government system from federal to local level.
How is the national income of an economy determined?
1. The national income of an economy is determined by measuring the total value of the output produced in an economy or the total income earned by the actors in the economy. In a circular flow model, we can see that the value of total output produced should equal the total value of income generated and earned in the economy. This is because every dollar spent by someone in the economy is received by another person in the economy as income.
What is GDP?
1. The gross domestic product or GDP represents the sum total of the value of the final goods and services produced within the economy for a given year. It is the most commonly used measure of its economy’s productivity and income.

A. Based on the model, firms earn revenue when ______________(firms, households) purchase ___________(goods and services, labor and capital) in markets for goods and services.

B. Suppose Kate earns $800 per week working as a doctor for the Medical Clinic. She uses $9 to order a mojito cocktail at Little Havana. Little Havana pays Hubert $300 per week to wait tables. Hubert uses $175 to purchase medical services from the Medical Clinic.

a. Identify whether each of the following events in the scenario occurs in the market for factors of production or the market for goods and services.

Event	The market for Factors of Production	The market for goods and services
Kate spends $9 to order a mojito cocktail.
Hubert spends $175 to purchase medical services for the Medical Clinic.
Hubert earns $300 per week working for Little Havana.

b. Which of the elements of this scenario represent a flow from a firm to a household? This could be a flow of dollars, inputs, or output.

Kate's labor, The Mojito Kate receives, The $175Hubert's spend to purchase Medical services from the Medical Clinic.

c. The actual economy is more complicated than the one illustrated in the previous circular-flow diagram of a simple economy. True/False.

maroontortoise635

2. Which one of the following statements does not indicate an important difference between traditional economics and ecological economics?

Ecological economics places greater emphasis on the importance of energy resources

Ecological economics places greater emphasis on the carrying capacity of the environment

Ecological economics places greater emphasis on the scale of economic activity

Ecological economics places greater emphasis on the importance of natural laws

Ecological economics places greater emphasis on the flow of goods between households and firms

3. The ability of the environment to absorb and render harmless the by-products of human activity is called ...

Carrying capacity

The sink function

Depletion

Throughput

The source function

4. Which of the following is an example of the source function of the environment?

Trees absorb some of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity

Wetlands reduce the pollution levels in water

Winds carry air pollution away from a city

Humans harvest fish from the oceans

Bacteria break down discarded wastes

5. Which one of the following relationships is not included in the standard circular flow model?

The flow of goods and services from firms to households

The flow of labor from households to firms

The flow of pollution from firms to households

The flow of money from households to firms

The flow of wages from firms to households

6. What statement below best describes how the environment is incorporated into the standard circular flow model?

The long-term availability of natural resources is considered

The pollution generated by firms and households is considered

The input of solar energy is considered

Natural resources are considered as inputs into the production process

The build-up of waste heat is considered

7. What is the primary external input into the broader ecological circular flow model?

Pollution

Solar energy

Fossil fuels

Geophysical cycles

Factors of production

8. What is the only net output of the broader ecological circular flow model?

Goods and services

Solar energy

Factors of production

Geophysical cycles

Waste heat

9. What is the standard economic technique used to compare present and future benefits and

costs?

Property rights

Microeconomics

Externalities

Macroeconomics

Discounting

10. Human activity is producing changes in which cycle that may lead to significant changes in the global climate?

Carbon cycle

Nitrogen cycle

Water cycle

Phosphorus cycle

Organic cycle

11. The Malthusian hypothesis ...

Has proven to be remarkably accurate

Is irrelevant for studying modern environmental problems

Has continuing implications for the debate on current environmental issues

Applies only to developing countries

Applies only to developed countries

12. What is the key to escaping the Malthusian trap?

Increasing productivity per capita

Increasing population

Increasing natural capital

Increasing population density

Definition of property rights

13. Real GNP per capita is defined as ...

GNP divided by population

GNP adjusted for inflation

GNP adjusted for capital depletion divided by population

GNP adjusted for inflation divided by population

GNP adjusted for depreciation divided by population

14. What two factors do standard economics consider as the most important in explaining productivity increases?

Increasing energy supplies and technological progress

Increasing capital stock and technological progress

Increasing energy supplies and increasing natural resources

Increasing capital stock and increasing energy supplies

Increasing capital stock and increasing natural resources

15. Which one of the following statements about sustainable development is false?

Sustainable development requires all energy to be derived from solar energy

Sustainable development considers the scale of the macro-economy

Sustainable development requires a population level below carrying capacity

Sustainable development combines modern and traditional agricultural techniques

Sustainable development requires some type of population policy

16. Which one of the following statements about sustainable development is false?

Some people have complained that sustainable development is a term devoid of specific content

Some people consider sustainable development just a slightly modified form of traditional economic growth

Sustainable development should provide for human needs without undermining the global ecosystem

Sustainable development would redefine economic goals

Sustainable development will require increased resource consumption

17. Which one of the following is an example of demand-side management?

Building a new nuclear power plant

Increasing oil exploration in the Arctic

Building a new solar energy plant

Replacing incandescent with compact fluorescent light bulbs

Increasing reliance on domestic oil sources rather than imports

18. The standard economic approach to pollution control

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ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scientific Method, Opportunity Cost

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