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1、 1 WHAT IS ECONOMICS 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley You are studying economics at a time of extraordinary change Your life will be shaped by the challenges you face and the opportunities that you create But to face those challenges and seize the opportunities they present you must understand the powerf
2、ul forces at play The economics that you re about to learn will become your most reliable guide 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Definition of Economics All economic questions arise because we want more than we can get Our inability to satisfy all our wants is called scarcity Because we face scarcity we
3、must make choices The choices we make depend on the incentives we face An incentive is a reward that encourages an action or a penalty that discourages an action 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Economics is the social science that studies the choices that individuals businesses governments and entire so
4、cieties make as they cope with scarcity and the incentives that influence and reconcile those choices Economics divides in to main parts Microeconomics Macroeconomics Definition of Economics 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Microeconomics is the study of choices that individuals and businesses make the w
5、ay those choices interact in markets and the influence of governments An example of a microeconomic question is Why are people buying more e books and fewer hard copy books Macroeconomics is the study of the performance of the national and global economies An example of a macroeconomic question is W
6、hy is the unemployment rate in the United States so high Definition of Economics 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Two Big Economic Questions Two big questions summarize the scope of economics How do choices end up determining what how and for whom goods and services get produced When do choices made in t
7、he pursuit of self interest also promote the social interest 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley What How and For Whom Goods and services are the objects that people value and produce to satisfy human wants What Agriculture accounts for less than 1 percent of total U S production manufactured goods for 22 p
8、ercent and services for 77 percent In China agriculture accounts for 11 percent of total production manufactured goods for 49 percent and services for 40 percent Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Two Big Economic Questions Figure 1 1 shows these numbers for the United States and
9、 China It also shows the numbers for Brazil What determines these patterns of production How do choices end up determining the quantity of each item produced in the United States and around the world 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley How Goods and services are produced by using
10、 productive resources that economists call factors of production Factors of production are grouped into four categories Land Labor Capital Entrepreneurship Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley The gifts of nature that we use to produce goods and services are land The work time and
11、work effort that people devote to producing goods and services is labor The quality of labor depends on human capital which is the knowledge and skill that people obtain from education on the job training and work experience The tools instruments machines buildings and other constructions that busin
12、esses use to produce goods and services are capital The human resource that organizes land labor and capital is entrepreneurship Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Figure 1 2 shows a measure of the growth of human capital in the United States over the last century the percentage
13、of the population that has completed different levels of education Economics explains these trends Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley For Whom Who gets the goods and services depends on the incomes that people earn Land earns rent Labor earns wages Cap
14、ital earns interest Entrepreneurship earns profit Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Can the Pursuit of Self Interest Promote the Social Interest Every day 311 million Americans and 6 9 billion people in other countries make economic choices that result in What How and For Whom g
15、oods and services are produced Do we produce the right things in the right quantities Do we use our factors of production in the best way Do the goods and services go to those who benefit most from them Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Self Interest You make choices that are in
16、 your self interest choices that you think are best for you Social Interest Choices that are best for society as a whole are said to be in the social interest Social interest has two dimensions Efficiency Equity Two Big Economic Questions 2012 Pearson Addison Wesley Efficiency is achieved when the available resources are used to produce goods and services 1 At the lowest possible price and 2 In quantities that give the greatest possible benefit Equity is fairness but economists have a variety of
