ECN 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Macroeconomic Model, Marginal Cost, Marginal Utility

52 views11 pages

lemontermite318

23 Nov 2017

School

Department

Course

Professor

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

Document Summary

1. 2: the economic way of thinking: whenever our wants are greater than the resources to meet those desires, we have an economic problem. It is the reality that gives economics their unique perspective. This is economic perspective or economic way of thinking which has several crucial and closely interrelated features. Scarcity and choice: the economic resources needed to make goods and services are in limited supply. Because these resources could be used in other production activities, they and the other goods and services that could have been produced are sacrificed in making the lunch available. Economics call these sacrifices opportunities costs: to get more of one thing, you forgo the opportunity to get something else. That sacrifice is the opportunity cost of the choice. Individuals look for and pursue opportunities to increase their utility: the pleasure, happiness, or satisfaction obtained from consuming a good or service. They allocate their time, energy, and money to maximize their satisfaction.

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

1. Scarcity in economics means: we do not have sufficient resources to produce all the goods and services we want. the wants of people are limited. there must be poor people in rich countries. shortages exist in nearly all markets. You like to read Vogue and Sports Illustrated. You have only $5 to spend, so you only buy Sports Illustrated. The statement that best represents this economic concept is: resources are scarce. the real cost of something is what you must give up to get it. positive economics explains how the economy actually works. economic models are used to answer âwhat ifâ questions. . If the state government allocates additional spending on education, the opportunity cost is: zero. the dollar amount of the additional spending. considered only if additional taxes need to be raised to fund the spending. measured in terms of the best alternative use for that money. For a student that owns his or her own home and doesn't plan to live in the dorm the cost of going to college is: tuition and the cost of housing. tuition, the cost of housing, and the cost of books. tuition, the cost of books, and forgone income. forgone income only. Keynesian economics stressed: the importance of total spending. the self-correcting power of free markets. the long run. that the Depression should run its course to bring down the high cost of living. The economic policy that uses changes in government spending and taxes to affect the overall spending in the economy is known as: a tax-and-spend policy. monetary policy. fiscal policy. free-trade policy. When building a model, economists: simplify reality in order to highlight what really matters. attempt to duplicate reality in all of its complexity. ignore the facts and instead try to determine what the facts should be. are careful to avoid the scientific method. Which is a normative statement? The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. The minimum wage is an important tool in fighting poverty and should be increased. The minimum wage can create higher unemployment for teens and unskilled workers. A higher minimum wage is expected to increase the price of a fast-food cheeseburger. Which is an example of a positive statement? The poverty rate should be 4%. A high rate of economic growth is a more important economic goal than a low rate of unemployment. The federal government pays for 46% of U.S. health care costs. Everyone in the country should be covered by national health insurance. Economists may disagree about policies because they: may approach the issue using the same sets of values. may use different economic models. enjoy disagreeing with each other. only consider issues in positive economics.

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

ECN 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Macroeconomic Model, Marginal Cost, Marginal Utility

Document Summary

Get access

Related Documents

ECN 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Capital Good, Budget Constraint, Opportunity Cost

ECN 104 Study Guide - Final Guide: Economic Surplus, Economic Equilibrium, Marginal Utility

ECN 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Ceteris Paribus, Marginalism, Opportunity Cost

Related Questions