ECON 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Opportunity Cost, Macroeconomics, Scientific Method
25 Sep 2014
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Document Summary
Role of economists: economists play 2 main roles:! Scientists: try to explain the world! policy advisors: try to improve it! Economists as scientists! what is happening and why is it happening that way! Employ scienti c method: dispassionate development/testing of theories ! about how the world works! Observe phenomena, formulate theories, collect/ analyze data in order to ! verify/ refute their theories! Cannot conduct experiments and therefore must study past/present events! Make positive statements which attempt to describe the world as it is! provide insights into how economies work! evaluate economic theories! If initial theory is wrong, must come up with alternative theory/explanation! Assumption: simplifying complex world, making it easier to understand (to see key pts)! example: when studying international trade, we can assume the world consists ! of 2 countries and 2 goods! Unrealistic but simpli es problems; also yields useful insights about real world!
