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Basic Economic Concept

Scarcity

Scarcity: limited resource \(\leftrightarrow\) unlimited wants

Resource: factors of production = input

  • Land
  • Labor
  • Capital
  • Entrepreneurship

Economy Forms

Property rights and protection of private property

  • Market Economy
  • Command Economy

Opportunity Cost

\(OC = \dfrac{quantity\ of\ goods\ or\ services\ forgone}{quantity\ of\ goods\ or\ services\ gain}\)

\(OC_x = \dfrac1{OC_y}\)

PPF Shift

Rightward shifters of PPF

  • Increment in resource quantity / quality
  • Improvement in productivity
  • Improvement in technology

The Principle of Increasing Opportunity Cost

OC increases because resources aren't equally adaptable

Advantage

  • Absolute Advantage: can produce goods and services in greater quantity for the same cost / less production cost
  • Comparative Advantage: produce goods and services at a lower Opportunity Cost

Note

One producer can only have a Comparative Advantage on only 1 kind of goods

Comparative Advantage decides specialization

Principle of Diminishing Marginal Utility

Utility Maximizing Rule:

\(\dfrac{MU_1}{Price_1} = \dfrac{MU_2}{Price_2}\)

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