ECN 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Opportunity Cost, Productive Efficiency, Allocative Efficiency

20 views4 pages

indigolizard188

6 Jun 2017

School

Department

Course

Professor

For unlimited access to Class Notes, a Class+ subscription is required.

Document Summary

Economics: is the study of the efficient use of scares resources to produce goods and services with maximum satisfaction and how the society distributes these goods and services among its members. Microeconomics: focuses on small scale aspects of economics, such as consumer demand, supply, and market price, etc, and the behaviour of individual households and/or firms/companies. Macroeconomics: focuses on the large scale, or aggregate, economy. It concerns total output, total employment, total income, aggregate expenditure and the general level of prices. Positive economics: focuses on facts and cause-and-effect relationships. It avoids value judgement, tries to establish scientific statements about economic behaviour, and deals with what the economy is actually like example: if tuition fees increase, the enrollment rate will fall. Normative economics: focuses on value judgements about what the economy should be like. Example: tuition should be lowered so that more students can obtain an education. Not enough resources : means that the society has scarce economic resources.

Related Questions

1/ All the problems studied in economics arise from

a. the unequal distribution of income

b. the scarcity of resources

c. inappropriate government action

d. overpopulation

e. war

2/ The overall performance of the economic system as a whole is the focus of

a. macroeconomics

b. public economics

c. international finance

d. labor economics

e. microeconomics

3/ After graduating from high school, Steve had the following three choices for his immediate future, listed in order of preference: (1) attend our campus, (2) work in a printed circuit board factory, or (3) attend a rival college. His opportunity cost of going to college here includes which of the following?

a. The income he could have earned at the printed circuit board factory plus the direct cost of attending college here (tuition, textbooks, etc.)

b. The benefits he could have received from going to the rival college.

c. Only the tuition and fees paid for taking classes here.

d. Cannot be determined from the information given.

e. The cost of books and supplies at the rival college.

4/ The question of scarce resources and unlimited wants are addressed in

a. psychology

b. history

c. anthropology

d. political science

e. economics

5/ Consider an economic model designed to analyze the purchasing decisions of households. An assumption that a household chooses between only two goods would be an example of an

a. positive assumption

b. simplifying assumption

c. macroeconomic assumption

d. financial assumption

e. critical assumption

6/ Which of the following explains why economists may disagree over normative issues?

a. They have different beliefs and values.

b. They often employ different statistical techniques when examining data.

c. Some work only on microeconomic issues, while others focus exclusively on macroeconomic issues.

d. They examine the same data to draw their conclusions.

e. They need to disagree to publish their research findings.

7/ Suppose your friends take you out for dinner on your birthday, and you have a much better time than you would have had to do anything else. There is still an opportunity cost, even though they will not let you pay for anything. True/False

8/ Microeconomics

a. addresses scarcity from a global perspective

b. is purely theoretical and has little value in explaining real-world phenomena

c. focuses on what is happening in the economy as a whole

d. examines how individuals, households, and firms make economic decisions

e. answers the fundamental economic questions of how, when, where, and why.

9/ People and organizations have to make choices about how to allocate time and money because

a. religious values conflict with economics

b. time and money are both scarce

c. government require it

d. there are unlimited resources

e. corporations control our lives

10/ The objective of an economic model is to

a. yield a better understanding of important relationships

b. use simplifying assumptions to make positive economic statements

c. be an accurate description of reality

d. predict real-world occurrences with complete accuracy

e. use basic principles of economics to derive fundamental assumptions about human behavior.

jaderaven304

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

aquamarinegoose75