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What is Economics?
Parkin-Microeconomics-Chapter 1
26
Economics
Undergraduate 2
09/22/2010

Additional Economics Flashcards

 


 

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Term
scarcity
Definition
inability to satisfy all our wants
Term
incentive
Definition
reward that encourages an action or a penalty that discourages one
Term
economics
Definition
social science that studies the choices that individuals, businesses, governements, and entire societies make as they cope with scarcity and the incentives that influence and reconcile those choices
Term
microeconomics
Definition
study of choices that individuals and businesses make, the way these choices interact in markets, and the influence of government
Term
macroeconomics
Definition
the study of the performance of national and global economies
Term
goods and services
Definition
goods (physical) and services (tasks performed) are objects that people value and produce to satisfy human wants
Term
factors of production
Definition
determines how goods and services are produced; the productive resources used to produce goods and services (land, labor, capital, entreprenership)
Term
land
Definition
"gifts of nature" we used to produce goods and services; natural resources
Term
labor
Definition
work time and effort that people devote to promote goods and services; quality depends on human capital
Term
human capital
Definition
knowledge and skills acquired from education, job training, and experience
Term
capital
Definition
tools, instruments, machines, buildings, and other constructions that businesses use to produce goods and services
Term
entrepreneurship
Definition
the human resources that organizes land, labor, and capital; come up with new ideas about what and how to produce; make new business decisions; and bear risk
Term
self-interest
Definition
a choice that is the best available for your interests
Term
social interest
Definition
choices that are best for societies as a whole
Term
globalization
Definition
expansion of world trade, borrowing and lending, and investing
Term
tradeoff
Definition
an exchange - giving up one thing to get something else
Term
big tradeoff
Definition
the trade off between equality and efficiency
Term
opportunity cost
Definition
the highest valued alternative that we must give up to get something
Term
marginal benefit
Definition
benefit that arises from an increase in activity
Term
marginal cost
Definition
cost of an increase in activity
Term
positive statement
Definition

about what is

true/false

can be right or wrong

we can test it

Term
normative statement
Definition

about what ought to be

expresses an opinion

depends on values

cannot be tested

Term
economic model
Definition
description of some aspect of the economic world that includes only features that are needed for the purpose at hand
Term
natural experiment
Definition
a situation that arises in the ordinary course of economic life in which one factor is different and other things are equal or similar
Term
statistical investigation
Definition
looks for a tendency for two values to move together - either the same or opposite directions 
Term
economic experiment
Definition
puts people in a decision-making situation and varies the influence of one factor at a time to discover how they respond
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