CAS EC 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Barter, Water Scarcity, Starbucks

• School: Boston University
• Department: Economics
• Course: CAS EC 102
• Professor: Jay Zagorsky

Document Summary

Macroeconomics - studies market forces beyond the control of any one person, family, or company example: jobs. 2. inflation: growth studying macroeconomics helps us - predict when changes will happen or react to changes in an optimal fashion. Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. scarcity = society has limited resources and therefore can"t produce all the unlimited goods/services people want. ~ domestic spending vs defense spending (aka guns vs butter) Fancy wedding vs down payment for a house. Studying economics vs another course"s material: interconnections. Adam smith (1723 - 1790) father of economics got paid by the lecture, was a professor & tutor wrote the first economics book. *individuals are constantly trying to improve their own situation in life. *this drive by individuals ends up making society better off book said that king, queen, & parliament were not infallible (high treason)