ECON 1BB3 Lecture Notes - Sidney Crosby, Invisible Hand, Toffee

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coffeeplatypus476

8 Feb 2013

School

McMaster University

Department

Economics

Course

ECON 1BB3

Professor

Bridget O' Shaughnessy

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ECON 1BB3 Full Course Notes

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Document Summary

How people make decisions: people face trade offs. There is no such thing as free lunch . To get one thing that we like we have to give up another. E. g. spending extra dollar on something is a dollar less for something else. Efficiency means that society is getting the most it can from its scarce resources (the size of the economic pie) Equity is the property of distribution economic prosperity fairly among the members of society (how pie is divided: the cost of something is what you give up to get it. Opportunity cost: what must be given up to obtain some item. Making decisions: rational people think at the margin. Rational people: people whom systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objectives given the opportunity they have. Marginal changes are adjustment around the edge of what you were doing. Marginal cost is the cost of the original price.

Related Questions

Need help revising, and recommendation for a conclusion.

Throughout this paper is my understanding of what I have learned in class chapters 1-4, expressing my understanding and opinions. Economics is the study of how we deal with scarce resources. Microeconomics specially deals with business in the home country exclusively. This type of economics affects small businesses in the home country only. On the other hand, macroeconomics concerns our national welfare concerning trade and international business.

I believe that many things affect our economy on a microeconomics level. Things such as our understanding of our country in reflection to the world are very important. That is why we study ourselves before we study the macroeconomic principle of the world. Understanding ourselves is what microeconomics teaches us. Working from the inside out. The world is a place where there are differences in our wants and what we get. That is what makes items scarce. That is what positive economics is. Positive economics deals with what is and what we have. The other type of economics is called normative statements. This deals with what we should receive instead of what is and deserved to some extent. It's our scarce resources that determine our allocation of resources and how we use our resources and time. This is where opportunity costs come in, giving up something to do something. A successful business or country never ignores opportunity costs. We must ensure that we have a comparative advantage instead of the absolute advantage. Our resources must be used to achieve maximum output. Comparative is met when we have fewer opportunity costs to make some certain products than the other person or entity.

My initial understanding was scarcity was oil potentially running out, but we have so much of it that you can always find more with techniques such as fracking. Now it's obvious to me, one of our most scarce resources is time. You cannot avoid the 8,760 hours in a year. I understand that people have unlimited wants but limited resources. Everything has a cost and we must make a choice as we don't have unlimited farms, factories workers, etc. scarcity forces choices and this ties in with opportunity cost, for every gun made, a theft from the hungry is made. The opportunity cost not being used to feed the poor, but to make guns. And I find it easy to understand no one can have everything choices must be made on benefits. If I'm going to school, imp giving up making cash, as I'm giving up money for an education, I value education more. Scarcity is also related to the invisible hand. As it's an achievement that leads free markets and capitalism through competition for scarce resources.

My understanding of the invisible hand is a person neither intends to promote public interest and does not know how much he is promoting it. Only intending on his own gain. Without being his intention a person can be lead by the invisible hand to do good for society by pursuing one's own self-interest. Going into equity and efficiency the invisible hand does ensure both equity and efficiency. People work in their selfish ways to maximize profit while also contributing to the economy as a whole. It can also be argued that as the invisible hand wants to ensure efficiency, it cannot guarantee efficiency, because it can fail to produce an efficient allocation of resources, which in turn lead to a market failure. It can also be argued that it can't guarantee equity because not everyone gets a fair price. The way I like to remember efficiency is with a real-life example, like a reduction in the number of workers needed to produce a particular good for a particular amount. Equity refers to the ownership interest in an asset, for example, if a person owns a house with a market value of $800,000 and owes $100,000 on the mortgage leaving a $700,000 equity in the home.

It can be predicted that if the price of beef increases - ceteris paribus-the quantity of beef demanded by buys will decrease. In other words, if the price of beef increases, then the quantity of beef increases, then the quantity of beef demanded will decrease because all things have to be equal. In-class lecture thought me all other things remaining the same. Economists use ceteris paribus to determine the effect of a factor when all other factors have been held the same and helps simplify the study and get a more refined data set.

Economists deal with many issues that pertain to assuring that both a countries domestic output is efficient and that there is an effective trade balance. This means that there are a balance and limit on the amount of imports. Also, this means home production must be able to meet export demands. There are many factors that affect the production of goods and their effect on shifting the production possibilities frontier. This involves evaluating every detail including knowing the products and any close substitutes and compliments. It also involves knowing how an action or other external force will affect demand. This is called price elasticity; Substitutes are products that can replace any given product or service. An example of this would be Coke and Pepsi. The presence of substitutes affects price elasticity because if there are other options, then any change to the price or quality of the product will cause a shift of the demand curve. O course, price is a huge reason why the demand for a product decreases or increases yet it doesn't shift the curve because of the price only. This price change will cause a domino effect that will end with the shifting of the demand curve because it will cause an increase or decrease in demand of the substitute good if the price change is either lower or higher respectively. This price change serves as a catalyst that will change people's desire to spend more money on a more expensive product and that will instead choose to buy the substitute good for cheaper or buy more of the desired product. The change in the price of actual products will not shift the demand curve yet the change of the price of substitutes will because it serves to change people's purchasing behavior. On the other hand, compliments serve to boost demand when there is a decrease in price. The use of complementary goods is dependent upon another product. An example of this would be hot dogs and buns. If the price of hotdogs decreases then, conversely, the demand for hot dog buns will increase because of this change in price. In this scenario, the decrease in price will cause a positive shift in the demand curve because of people's desire and willingness to buy more buns. This is an example of a demand shifter. There are a few other demand shifters. The shifters of the demand curve are changes in expectations, disposable income, price of substitute goods and complements, tastes and preferences, and population size and composition. Changes in income affect the demand curve because if income is lower then people tend to save any extra income instead of wasting it. Disposable income is minimized and spending is lower. This also causes people to see a perceived value of things and distinguishing between what is necessary and what is a relative luxury. The lower the income, the higher the saving and avoidance to spend. An example of this would be if someone needs to buy some medication and it is relatively expensive, that doesn't mean that someone won't buy the medication just because it is expensive. It is necessary. Other factors that contribute to spending and demand are having a price ceiling and price floor. Having a price ceiling is a limit on the price of the product this is a government-imposed idea that is meant to protect consumers from unfair pricing and other conditions that may be malicious or obscure. This affects demand because if there is a price ceiling there is a limit on profit on a unit-to-unit basis. The other factor is the price floor. This price floor was created to encourage competition and affect consumers' willingness to pay because sometimes this new price may be higher than the original price. This causes a negative impact on a product that has a less than wanted perceived value. Many factors contribute to economic prosperity and certainly do help assure that information is analyzed and implemented into an economic and business plan.

limejellyfish231

QUESTION 1

Assume there are two basic goods produced in a nation, consumer goods and capital goods. The production possibilities graph for these two goods is bowed out from the origin. This reason for this shape of the graph is because of:

	A.	the other-things-equal assumption.
	B.	the law of increasing opportunity costs.
	C.	diminishing marginal utility.
	D.	present choices and future possibilities.

1 points

QUESTION 2

From an economic perspective, when a student decides to attend another year of college, the student has concluded that the:

	A.	marginal costs of attending college are reduced by the availability of grants and subsidies.
	B.	marginal benefits of attending college have increased because the future is brighter.
	C.	marginal benefits of attending college are greater than the marginal costs.
	D.	marginal costs of attending college have decreased to make college affordable.

1 points

QUESTION 3

A person observes that as consumer prices fall, economic growth increases. The person concludes that fall consumer prices leads to economic growth. This conclusion would be an example of:

	A.	confusing correlation with causation.
	B.	the fallacy of composition.
	C.	trade-offs among economic goals.
	D.	the other-things-equal assumption.

1 points

QUESTION 4

The problem of unlimited wants and limited income is known as

	A.	the scientific method.
	B.	unequal wealth distribution.
	C.	normative economics.
	D.	the economizing problem.

1 points

QUESTION 5

A point outside the production possibilities curve is:

	A.	unattainable without economic growth.
	B.	attainable and the economy is efficient.
	C.	unattainable without inflation.
	D.	attainable, but the economy is inefficient.

1 points

QUESTION 6

Which one of the following would be an example of loaded terminology?

	A.	market forces
	B.	tentative hypothesis
	C.	entrepreneurial functions
	D.	creeping socialism

1 points

QUESTION 7

Suppose there are two economies, Alpha and Beta, both of which have the same production possibilities curves. If Beta devotes more resources to produce investment goods than consumer goods as compared to Alpha, then in the future:

	A.	Alpha will not be able to achieve full employment.
	B.	Beta will not be able to achieve full employment.
	C.	Alpha will experience greater economic growth than Beta.
	D.	Beta will experience greater economic growth than Alpha.

1 points

QUESTION 8

Macroeconomics, as opposed to microeconomics, is concerned with

	A.	individual businesses.
	B.	new computer technology.
	C.	the stock market.
	D.	the economy as a whole.

1 points

QUESTION 9

Which one of the following is an example of a positive economic statement?

	A.	The size of the Federal government should be reduced.
	B.	Midwest states affected by drought should be given more federal disaster aid.
	C.	Education and income are highly correlated.
	D.	The minimum wage for workers should be raised to help low-income workers.

1 points

QUESTION 10

Economics is primarily concerned with

	A.	interactions between the government and market participants.
	B.	how scarce resources are used.
	C.	the production and distribution of capital goods.
	D.	how income is divided among individuals.

1 points

QUESTION 11

The production possibilities table below shows the hypothetical relationship between the production of guns (national defense) and butter (social goods) in an economy.

A B C D E

Guns 0 4 7 9 10

Butter 4 3 2 1 0

If the economy is producing at alternative C, what is the opportunity cost of producing another unit of butter?

	A.	3 units of guns.
	B.	1 units of guns.
	C.	2 units of guns.
	D.	4 units of guns.

1 points

QUESTION 12

Assume that a consumer can buy only two goods X and Y, and has an income of $120. The price of X is $10 and the price of Y is $20. If the consumer spends all of her money on X and Y, which of the following would be a possible combination:

	A.	4X and 2Y
	B.	5X and 3Y
	C.	6X and 3Y
	D.	8X and 1Y

1 points

QUESTION 13

In the production possibilities model of an economy, when there is full employment of resources

		a nation will be operating at an interior point within its production possibilities curve.
		a nation will be operating on the production possibilities curve.
		the production possibilities curve will shift outward to the right.
		the production possibilies curve will shift inward to the left.

1 points

QUESTION 14

In economics the concept that there is "no free lunch" means

	A.	scarce resources were used to produce these "free" goods so there is an opportunity cost to producing them.
	B.	consumers are irrational when they ask for a free lunch unless they can make the case that the free lunch benefits business.
	C.	the marginal cost of the "lunch" is greater than the marginal benefit.
	D.	businesses could not make a profit if they gave away free goods to consumers.

1 points

QUESTION 15

Assume that a consumer can only purchase two goods with her income. A straight-line budget constraint indicates that the opportunity cost of obtaining an additional unit of one good is:

	A.	negative.
	B.	constant.
	C.	increasing.
	D.	decreasing.

carmineferret43

QUESTION 1

	A.	the other-things-equal assumption.
	B.	the law of increasing opportunity costs.
	C.	diminishing marginal utility.
	D.	present choices and future possibilities.

1 points

QUESTION 2

From an economic perspective, when a student decides to attend another year of college, the student has concluded that the:

	A.	marginal costs of attending college are reduced by the availability of grants and subsidies.
	B.	marginal benefits of attending college have increased because the future is brighter.
	C.	marginal benefits of attending college are greater than the marginal costs.
	D.	marginal costs of attending college have decreased to make college affordable.

1 points

QUESTION 3

A person observes that as consumer prices fall, economic growth increases. The person concludes that fall consumer prices leads to economic growth. This conclusion would be an example of:

	A.	confusing correlation with causation.
	B.	the fallacy of composition.
	C.	trade-offs among economic goals.
	D.	the other-things-equal assumption.

1 points

QUESTION 4

The problem of unlimited wants and limited income is known as

	A.	the scientific method.
	B.	unequal wealth distribution.
	C.	normative economics.
	D.	the economizing problem.

1 points

QUESTION 5

A point outside the production possibilities curve is:

	A.	unattainable without economic growth.
	B.	attainable and the economy is efficient.
	C.	unattainable without inflation.
	D.	attainable, but the economy is inefficient.

1 points

QUESTION 6

Which one of the following would be an example of loaded terminology?

	A.	market forces
	B.	tentative hypothesis
	C.	entrepreneurial functions
	D.	creeping socialism

1 points

QUESTION 7

	A.	Alpha will not be able to achieve full employment.
	B.	Beta will not be able to achieve full employment.
	C.	Alpha will experience greater economic growth than Beta.
	D.	Beta will experience greater economic growth than Alpha.

1 points

QUESTION 8

Macroeconomics, as opposed to microeconomics, is concerned with

	A.	individual businesses.
	B.	new computer technology.
	C.	the stock market.
	D.	the economy as a whole.

1 points

QUESTION 9

Which one of the following is an example of a positive economic statement?

	A.	The size of the Federal government should be reduced.
	B.	Midwest states affected by drought should be given more federal disaster aid.
	C.	Education and income are highly correlated.
	D.	The minimum wage for workers should be raised to help low-income workers.

1 points

QUESTION 10

Economics is primarily concerned with

	A.	interactions between the government and market participants.
	B.	how scarce resources are used.
	C.	the production and distribution of capital goods.
	D.	how income is divided among individuals.

1 points

QUESTION 11

The production possibilities table below shows the hypothetical relationship between the production of guns (national defense) and butter (social goods) in an economy.

A B C D E

Guns 0 4 7 9 10

Butter 4 3 2 1 0

If the economy is producing at alternative C, what is the opportunity cost of producing another unit of butter?

	A.	3 units of guns.
	B.	1 units of guns.
	C.	2 units of guns.
	D.	4 units of guns.

1 points

QUESTION 12

	A.	4X and 2Y
	B.	5X and 3Y
	C.	6X and 3Y
	D.	8X and 1Y

1 points

QUESTION 13

In the production possibilities model of an economy, when there is full employment of resources

		a nation will be operating at an interior point within its production possibilities curve.
		a nation will be operating on the production possibilities curve.
		the production possibilities curve will shift outward to the right.
		the production possibilies curve will shift inward to the left.

1 points

QUESTION 14

In economics the concept that there is "no free lunch" means

	A.	scarce resources were used to produce these "free" goods so there is an opportunity cost to producing them.
	B.	consumers are irrational when they ask for a free lunch unless they can make the case that the free lunch benefits business.
	C.	the marginal cost of the "lunch" is greater than the marginal benefit.
	D.	businesses could not make a profit if they gave away free goods to consumers.

1 points

QUESTION 15

Assume that a consumer can only purchase two goods with her income. A straight-line budget constraint indicates that the opportunity cost of obtaining an additional unit of one good is:

	A.	negative.
	B.	constant.
	C.	increasing.
	D.	decreasing.

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ECON 1BB3 Lecture Notes - Sidney Crosby, Invisible Hand, Toffee

ECON 1BB3 Full Course Notes

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