ECON 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Opportunity Cost, Global Warming, Global Financial System

• School: York University
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 1000
• Professor: Steven Edwards

Document Summary

All economic questions arise because we want more than we can get. Our inability to satisfy all our wants is called scarcity. Because we face scarcity, we must make choices. The choices we make depend on the incentives we face. An incentive is a reward that encourages an action or a penalty that discourages an action. Economics is the social science that studies the choices that individuals, businesses, governments, and entire societies make as they cope with scarcity and the incentives that influence and reconcile those choices. Microeconomics is the study of choices that individuals and businesses make, the way those choices interact in markets, and the influence of governments. Macroeconomics is the study of the performance of the national and global economies. Two big questions summarize the scope of economics: Factors of production are grouped into four categories: Globalization means the expansion of international trade, borrowing and lending, and investment.