What are substitutes?
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Positive cross elasticity of demand; if good B becomes more expensive, demand for good A rises.
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What are substitutes?
Positive cross elasticity of demand; if good B becomes more expensive, demand for good A rises.
What is the Price Mechanism?
The system of resource allocation based on the free market movement of prices, determined by the demand and supply curves.
What is Minimum price?
A floor price which a firm cannot charge below.
What is a subsidy?
Government payments to a producer to lower their costs of production and encourage them to produce more.
What is an Ad valorem tax?
An indirect tax imposed on a good where the value of the tax is dependent on the value of the good.
What are Capital goods?
Goods produced in order to aid production of consumer goods in the future.
What are trade pollution permits?
Licenses which allow businesses to pollute up to a certain amount, controlled by the government to manage pollution levels.
What is Market forces?
Forces in free markets which act to reduce prices when there is excess supply and increase them when there is excess demand.
What is a Mixed economy?
Both the free market mechanism and the government allocate resources.
What are Consumer goods?
Goods bought and demanded by households and individuals.
What is Social Cost/Benefit?
The cost/benefit to society as a whole due to the economic activity.
What does Diminishing marginal utility mean?
The extra benefit gained from consumption of a good generally declines as extra units are consumed; explains why the demand curve is downward sloping.
What is a Positive statement?
Objective statements which can be tested with factual evidence to be proven or disproven.
What is the Incidence of tax?
The distribution of the tax burden among taxpayers.
What is a unitary price elastic good?
When price elasticity of demand or supply equals 1; a change in price leads to a change in output by the same proportion.
What is Capital in economics?
One of the four factors of production; goods which can be used in the production process.
What is Regulation in the context of economics?
Laws to address market failure and promote competition between firms.
What are Non-renewable resources?
Resources which cannot be readily replenished or replaced at a level equal to consumption; the stock level decreases over time as they are consumed.
What is Cross elasticity of demand (XED)?
The responsiveness of demand for one good (A) to a change in price of another good (B).
What are External costs/benefits?
The costs or benefits to a third party not involved in the economic activity; the difference between social cost/benefit and private cost/benefit.
What does Efficiency mean in economics?
When resources are allocated optimally, so every consumer benefits and waste is minimised.
What is Income elasticity of demand (YED)?
The measure of how responsive demand is to a change in income, calculated as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in income.
What is Market failure?
A situation where the free market fails to allocate resources in the best interest of society.
What is utility?
The satisfaction derived from consuming a good.
What is Producer Surplus?
The difference between the price the producer is willing to charge and the price they actually charge.
What is a Command economy?
All factors of production are allocated by the state, so they decide what, how and for whom to produce goods.
What are Renewable Resources?
Resources which can be replenished, so the stock of resources can be maintained over a period of time.
What is Excess supply?
A situation where the price is set too high, resulting in supply being greater than demand.
What is a Perfectly price inelastic good?
A good where PED/PES = 0; quantity demanded/supplied does not change when price changes.
What is Government failure?
A situation where government intervention results in a net welfare loss in society.
What are Inferior goods?
Goods for which demand decreases as income increases, characterized by a YED less than 0.
What is symmetric information?
Where buyers and sellers both have access to the same information.
What are Private Goods?
Goods that are rivalry and excludable.
What does Ceteris paribus mean?
All other things remaining the same.
What does Non-excludable mean?
A characteristic of public goods; someone cannot be prevented from using the good.
What are Normal goods?
Goods for which demand increases as income increases (YED > 0).
What is Specialization in economics?
The production of a limited range of goods by a company/country/individual, requiring trade with others.
What is the Free rider principle?
The phenomenon where individuals who do not pay for a public good still receive benefits, leading to under-provision of the good by the private sector.
What is Price elasticity of demand (PED)?
The responsiveness of demand to a change in price.
What are Luxury goods?
Goods characterized by a YED greater than 1, where an increase in income leads to an even larger increase in demand.
What is state provision of goods?
Through taxation, the government provides public goods or merit goods which are underprovided in the free market.
What is Price Elasticity of Supply (PES)?
The responsiveness of supply to a change in price.
What are Public Goods?
Goods that are non-excludable and non-rivalry.
What are Complementary goods?
Negative XED; if good B becomes more expensive, demand for good A falls.
What does Non-rivalry mean?
A characteristic of public goods; one person’s use of the good does not prevent someone else from using it.
What is Demand?
The quantity of a good/service that consumers are able and willing to buy at a given price at a given moment of time.
What is a Free market?
An economy where the market mechanism allocates resources, allowing consumers and producers to make decisions about production, methods, and distribution.
What is a Possibility production frontier (PPF)?
Depicts the maximum productive potential of an economy, using a combination of two goods or services, when resources are fully and efficiently employed.
What is Information provision?
Government intervention aimed at providing information to correct market failure.
What is supply?
The ability and willingness to provide a particular good/service at a given price at a given moment in time.
What does Asymmetric information refer to?
Where one party has more information than the other, leading to market failure.
What does Rationality refer to in economic decision-making?
Decision-making that leads to economic agents maximizing their utility.
What defines a Relatively Price Inelastic good?
When PED/PES < 1; demand/supply is relatively unresponsive to a change in price.
What is Excess demand?
A situation where the price is set too low, leading to demand being greater than supply.
What is a Perfectly price elastic good?
A good where PED/PES = Infinity; quantity demanded/supplied falls to 0 when price changes.
What is the Economic problem?
The problem of scarcity; wants are unlimited but resources are finite so choices have to be made.
What is Habitual behaviour?
A cause of irrational behaviour where consumers consistently make certain decisions based on habit.
What is Land?
One of the four factors of production, encompassing natural resources such as oil, coal, wheat, and physical space.
What is weakness at computation?
A cause of irrational behavior; when consumers are bad at making calculations, estimating probabilities, and working out future benefits/costs.
What is Maximum price?
A ceiling price which a firm cannot charge above.
What is a Model?
A hypothesis which can be proven or tested by evidence; it tends to be mathematical whilst a theory is in words.
What is Consumer surplus?
The difference between the price the consumer is willing to pay and the price they actually pay.
What is an Opportunity cost?
The value of the next best alternative forgone.
What is a Specific Tax?
A tax imposed on a good where the value of the tax is dependent on the quantity that is bought.
What is an Indirect tax?
Taxes on expenditure that increase production costs and lead to a decrease in supply.
What defines a Relatively Price Elastic good?
When PED/PES > 1; demand/supply is relatively responsive to a change in price.
What is Equilibrium price/quantity?
The point where demand equals supply, resulting in no market forces causing changes to price or quantity demanded.
What is the Social Optimum Position?
Where social costs equal social benefits; the amount which should be produced/consumed to maximize social welfare.
What is Division of labour?
When labour becomes specialised during the production process so do a specific task in cooperation with other workers.
What is an Information gap?
A situation where an economic agent lacks the necessary information to make a rational, informed decision.
What are Negative externalities of production?
Where the social costs of producing a good are greater than the private costs of producing the good.
What is Scarcity?
The shortage of resources in relation to the quantity of human wants.
What are Externalities?
The costs or benefits that a third party receives from an economic transaction outside of the market mechanism.
What are Positive externalities of consumption?
Where the social benefits of consuming a good are larger than the private benefits of consuming that good.
What is Enterprise in the context of production?
One of the four factors of production; the willingness and ability to take risks and combine the three other factors of production.
What is Labour?
One of the four factors of production, referring to human capital.