2 The Economic
Problem
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 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.
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Definition of Economics
Economics is the social science that studies the choices
that individuals, businesses, governments, and entire
societies make as they cope with scarcity and the
incentives that influence and reconcile those choices.
Economics divides in two main parts:
▪ Microeconomics
▪ Macroeconomics
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Definition of Economics
Microeconomics is the study of choices that individuals
and businesses make, the way 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: Why is the
unemployment rate in the United States so high?
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The Economic Way of Thinking
Six key ideas define the economic way of thinking:
▪ A choice is a tradeoff.
▪ People make rational choices by comparing benefits
and costs.
▪ Benefit is what you gain from something.
▪ Cost is what you must give up to get something.
▪ Most choices are “how-much” choices made at the
margin.
▪ Choices respond to incentives.
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The Economic Way of Thinking
A Choice Is a Tradeoff
The economic way of thinking places scarcity and its
implication, choice, at center stage.
You can think about every choice as a tradeoff—an
exchange—giving up one thing to get something else.
On Saturday night, will you study or have fun?
You can’t study and have fun at the same time, so you
must make a choice.
Whatever you choose, you could have chosen something
else. Your choice is a tradeoff.
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The Economic Way of Thinking
Making a Rational Choice
A rational choice is one that compares costs and
benefits and achieves the greatest benefit over cost for the
person making the choice.
Only the wants of the person making a choice are relevant
to determine its rationality.
The idea of rational choice provides an answer to the first
question: What goods and services will be produced and
in what quantities?
The answer is: Those that people rationally choose to buy!
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The Economic Way of Thinking
How do people choose rationally?
The answers turn on benefits and costs.
Benefit: What you Gain
The benefit of something is the gain or pleasure that it
brings and is determined by preferences
Preferences are what a person likes and dislikes and the
intensity of those feelings.
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The Economic Way of Thinking
Cost: What you Must Give Up
The opportunity cost of something is the highest-valued
alternative that must be given up to get it.
What is your opportunity cost of going to a live concert?
Opportunity cost has two components:
1. The things you can’t afford to buy if you purchase the
concert ticket.
2. The things you can’t do with your time if you attend the
concert.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
The production possibilities frontier (PPF) is the
boundary between those combinations of goods and
services that can be produced and those that cannot.
To illustrate the PPF, we focus on two goods at a time and
hold the quantities of all other goods and services
constant.
That is, we look at a model economy in which everything
remains the same (ceteris paribus) except the two goods
we’re considering.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Production Possibilities Frontier
Figure 2.1 shows the PPF for two goods: cola and pizzas.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Any point on the frontier such as E and any point inside the
PPF such as Z are attainable.
Points outside the PPF are unattainable.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Production Efficiency
We achieve production
efficiency if we cannot
produce more of one
good without producing
less of some other good.
Points on the frontier are
efficient.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Any point inside the
frontier, such as Z, is
inefficient.
At such a point, it is
possible to produce more
of one good without
producing less of the other
good.
At Z, resources are either
unemployed or
misallocated.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Tradeoff Along the PPF
Every choice along the
PPF involves a tradeoff.
On this PPF, we must give
up some cola to get more
pizzas or give up some
pizzas to get more cola.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Opportunity Cost
As we move down along
the PPF,
we produce more pizzas,
but the quantity of cola we
can produce decreases.
The opportunity cost of a
pizza is the cola forgone.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
In moving from E to F:
The quantity of pizzas
increases by 1 million.
The quantity of cola
decreases by 5 million
cans.
The opportunity cost of the
fifth 1 million pizzas is
5 million cans of cola.
One of these pizzas costs
5 cans of cola.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
In moving from F to E:
The quantity of cola
increases by 5 million
cans.
The quantity of pizzas
decreases by 1 million.
The opportunity cost of
the first 5 million cans of
cola is 1 million pizzas.
One of these cans of cola
costs 1/5 of a pizza.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Opportunity Cost Is a
Ratio
Note that the opportunity
cost of a can of cola is the
inverse of the opportunity
cost of a pizza.
One pizza costs 5 cans of
cola.
One can of cola costs 1/5
of a pizza.
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Production Possibilities and
Opportunity Cost
Increasing Opportunity
Cost
Because resources are
not equally productive in
all activities, the PPF
bows outward.
The outward bow of the
PPF means that as the
quantity produced of each
good increases, so does
its opportunity cost.
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Using Resources Efficiently
Figure 2.2 illustrates the
marginal cost of a pizza.
As we move along the
PPF, the opportunity cost
of a pizza increases.
The opportunity cost of
producing one more
pizza is the marginal cost
of a pizza.
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© 2014 Pearson Addison-Wesley