Chapter 1 – Flashcard Test Questions

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
Economics
answer
The social science concerned with how individuals, institutions, and society make optimal (best) choices under conditions of scarcity
question
Scarcity
answer
The limits placed on the amounts and types of goods and services available for consumptions as the result of there being only limited economic resources from which to produce output; the fundamental economic constraint that creates opportunity costs and that necessitates the use of marginal analysis (cost-benefit analysis) to make optimal choices
question
Economic Perspective
answer
A viewpoint that envisions individuals and institutions making rational decisions by comparing the marginal benefits and marginal costs associated with their actions
question
Opportunity Cost
answer
The amount of other products that must be forgone or scarified to produce a unit of a product
question
Utility
answer
The want-satisfying power of a good or service; the satisfaction of pleasure a consumer obtains from the consumption of a good or service (or from the consumption of a collection of goods or services)
question
Marginal Analysis
answer
The comparison of marginal ("extra" or "additional") benefits and marginal costs, usually for decision making
question
Scientific Method
answer
The procedure for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the observation of facts and the formulation and testing of hypotheses to obtain theories, principles, and laws
question
Economic Principle
answer
A widely accepted generalization about the economic behavior of individuals or institutions
question
Other-Things-Equal Assumption
answer
The assumption that factors other than those ebing considered are held constant
question
Micro
answer
The part of economics concerned with decision making by individual units such as a household, a firm, or an industry and individuals markets, specific goods and services, and product and resource prices
question
Macro
answer
The part of economics concerned with the performance and behavior of the economy as a whole. Focuses on economics growth, the business cycle, interest rates, inflation, and the behavior of major economic aggregates such as the household, business, and government sectors
question
Aggregate
answer
A collection of specific economic united treated as if they were one unit. Examples: the prices of all individual goods and services are combined into the price level, and all units of output are aggregated into gross domestic product
question
Positive Economics
answer
The analysis of facts or data to establish scientific generalizations about economic behavior
question
Normative Economics
answer
The part of economics involving value judgements about what the economy should be like; focused on which economic goals and policies should be implemented; policy economics
question
Economizing Problems
answer
The choices necessitated because society's economic wants for goods and services are unlimited but the resources available to satisfy these wants are limited (scarce)
question
Budget Line
answer
A line that shows the different combinations of two products a consumer can purchase with a specific money income, given the products' prices
question
Economic Resources
answer
The land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurial ability that are used to produce goods and services; the factors of production
question
Factors of Production
answer
The four economic resources: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurial ability
question
Land
answer
In addition to the part of the earth's surface not covered by water, this term refers to any and all natural resources that are used to produce goods and services. Thus, it includes the oceans, sunshine, coal deposits, forests, the electromagnetic spectrum, and fisheries. Note that land is one of the four economic resources
question
Labor
answer
Any mental or physical exertion on the part of a human being that is used in the production of a good or service. One of the four economic resources
question
Capital
answer
Human-made resources (buildings, machinery, and equipment) used to produce goods and services; goods that do not directly satisfy human wants; also called capital goods. One of the four economic resources
question
Investment
answer
In economics, spending for the production and accumulation of capital and additions to inventories
question
Entrepreneurial Ability
answer
The human resource that combines the other economic resources of land, labor, and capital to produce new products or make innovations in the production of existing products; provided by entrepreneurs
question
Consumer Goods
answer
Products and services that satisfy human wants directly
question
Production Possibilities Curve
answer
A curve showing the different combinations of two goods or services that can be produced in a full-employment, full-production economy where the available supplies of resources and technology are fixed
question
Law of Increasing Opportunity Costs
answer
The principle that as the production of a good increases, the opportunity cost of producing an additional unit rises
question
Economic Growth
answer
An outward shift in the production possibilities curve that results from an increase in resource supplies or quality or an improvement in technology An increase of real output (GDP) or real output per capita
question
The four types of economic resources are
answer
Land Labor Capital Entrepreneurial Ability
question
When a production possibilities table or curve in constructed, four assumptions are made
answer
Full employment Fixed resources Fixed technology 2 types of goods being produced (capital and consumer good)
question
What statement would best complete a short definition of economics?? Economic studies
answer
how individuals, institutions, and society make optimal choices under conditions of scarcity
question
The idea in economic that "there is no such thing as a free lunch" means that
answer
Scarce resources have alternative uses or opportunity costs
question
The opportunity cost of a new public stadium is the
answer
other goods and services that must be sacrificed to construct the new stadium
question
From the economic perspective, when a business decides to employ more workers, the business decision maker has most likely concluded that the marginal
answer
benefits of employing more workers are greater than the marginal costs
question
The combination of economic theories or principles into a simplified representation of reality is referred to as an economic
answer
model
question
Which would be studied in micro?
answer
the output and price of wheat in the United States
question
When we look at the whole economy or its major aggregates, our analysis would be at the level of
answer
macroeconomics
question
Which is a normative economic statement?
answer
The unemployment rate of 6.8 percent is too high
question
Sandra states that "there is a high correlation between consumption and income." Arthur replies that the correlation occurs because "people consume too much of their income and don't save enough"
answer
Sandra's statement is positive and Arthur's statement is normative
question
Tools, machinery, or equipment used to produce other goods would be examples of
answer
capital goods
question
An entrepreneur innovates by
answer
commercializing new product for a market
question
When a production possibilities schedule is written in this chapter, four assumptions are made. Which is one of those assumptions?
answer
The economy has full employment of available resources
question
What is the economic rationale for the law of increasing opportunity costs?
answer
Economic resources are not completely adaptable to alternative uses
question
The under allocation of resources by society to the production of a product means that the
answer
marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost
question
If there is an increase in the resources available within the economy,
answer
the economy will be capable of producing more goods
question
Which situation would most likely shift the production possibilities curve for a nation in an outward direction?
answer
Increase in technological advance
question
You observe that more education is associated with more income and conclude that more income leads to more education. This would be an example of
answer
confusing the correlation and causation
question
The attempt to establish scientific statements about economic behavior; a concern with "what is" rather than "what ought to be"
answer
Positive Economics
question
Part of economics that involves value judgements about the economy should be like or the way the economic world should be
answer
Normative Economics
question
Social science that studies how individuals, institutions, and society make optimal choices under conditions of scarcity
answer
Economics
question
Part of economics that concerned with the economic behavior of individual units such as households, firms, and industries (particular markets)
answer
Micro
question
The comparison of additional benefits and additional costs
answer
Marginal analysis
question
Part of economics concerned with the whole economy or its major sectors
answer
Marco
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New