1 ~ The Economic Problem

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AS - Level Economics (Microeconomics) Flashcards on 1 ~ The Economic Problem, created by Tara Pugal on 14/01/2016.
Tara Pugal
Flashcards by Tara Pugal, updated more than 1 year ago
Tara Pugal
Created by Tara Pugal almost 9 years ago
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Question Answer
What is the ceteris paribus assumption? all other factors remaining constant
Define scarcity a lack of supply of factors of prodction
What are trade-offs and choices? a trade off means that choosing more of one thing can only be achieved by giving up something else in exchange
Explain the cost benefit principle where people consider costs and benefits of their actions
Explain the 'marginal' idea the costs and benefits of consuming a little extra of a product
What do rational decision-makers do? attempt to weigh the marginal benefit received from an option with it's marginal cost (including the opportunity cost)
What do people usually aim to do with their welfare? maximise it
How do people maximise their welfare? by allocating their limited income in a way that gives them maximum total satisfaction
What are the effects of incomplete information on welfare? causes a loss of welfare
Define Opportunity Cost the cost of any choice in terms of the next best alternative forgone
How does a free market economy work? markets allocate resources through the price mechanism there is limited role for the government (protecting property rights and the value of money)
Define Rationing a way of allocating scarce goods and services when market demand exceed the available supply
How does market price link with rationing? in a market system, the price mechanism plays a key role in rationing demand the market price determines which consumers have the effective demand to purchase and who doesn't
What are problems with rationing? (2) discrimination issues of equity and fairness
What are options for rationing resources? (8) by market price consumer income assessment of need household postcode education level age gender nationality
What are the four main factors of production? land labour capital enterprise
What is land? all natural physical resources e.g. fertile farmland renewable energy
What is labour? human input into production e.g. supply of works available and their productivity is key if growth is to be achieved
What is K? capital goods are used to produce other consumer goods and services in the future
What is fixed K? (5) includes machinery equipment new tech factories other buildings
What is working K? stocks of finished and semi-finished goods that will be consumed in the near future or made into consumer goods
What is enterprise? regarded as a specialised form of labour
What is an entrepreneur? someone who supplies products to a market to make profit usually invests their own financial capital in a business and takes on the risks their main reward is the profit
What are non-renewable resources? in finite supply e.g. coal, gas, oil have no mechanism to replenish them the rate of extraction depends on the market price
What are renewable resources? replaceable over time (providing the rate of extraction is less than the natural rate as which is renews itself) e.g. solar energy, oxygen, biomass
What are free goods? do not use up any factor inputs have a 0 opportunity cost (marginal cost of supplying an extra unit is 0)
What does a PPF show? the maximum possible output combinations of two goods or services an economy can achieve when all resources are fully and efficiently employed
What does a PPF look like and how do the points work?
The points on a PPF inside the curve are? unemployed or inefficiently used
The points beyond the PPF are? unattainable
How would a country attain those points? (3) an increase in factor resources increase in productivity improvement in technology
What is the effect of producing more of both goods? an improvement in allocative efficiency
What does reallocating scarce resources from one product to another involve? an opportunity cost
When will a PPF be a straight line?
When will the PPF shift outwards? improvements in productivity and efficiency from new tech or advances in the techniques of production more factors of production being available and used discovery of new natural resources better management of factor outputs
When will a PPF shift inwards? (4) rarely: damaging effects of natural disasters economic damage of war and conflict large scale net migration of people out of a country long term fall in productivity of labour
What is resource depreciation? when factor inputs are used in supplying goods and services and, over time, they deteriorate and become harder and more costly to maintain can result in a fall in productivity
What is resource depletion? when the stock of available resources actually declines e.g. amount of forestry can be permanently damaged by excessive tree logging/deforestation
What are positive statements? objective statements can be tested, amended or rejected by referring to available evidence
What is an example of positive statement? a fall in incomes will lead to a rise in demand for own-label supermarket foods
What are normative statements? subjective statements carry value judgements
What is an example of a normative statement? pollution is the most serious economic problem
What is specialisation? when you concentrate on a product or task
What are some possible gains of specialisation? (3) higher output variety a bigger market
What is the division of labour? where production is broken down into separate tasks it raises the output per person bc people become better through constant repetition
What are some limitations of division of labour? (4) unrewarding repetitive work that require little skill lowers motivation and productivity creates the problem of high worker turnover workers can suffer from structural employment mass-produced standardised goods lack variety for sonsumers
What does factor immobility cause? market failure
What are the two types of factor immobility? occupational geographical
When does occupational immobility occur? when there are barriers to the mobility of factors of production between different sectors of the economy
When and why do people experience occupational immobility? in the form of structural unemployment as they may have specific skills that are not needed in growing industries and this causes a mismatch between skills required and skills possessed
When does geographical immobility occur? when there are barriers that stop people moving from one area to another to find work
What are some causes of geographical unemployment? (5) family and social ties financial costs of moving regional variations in prices (e.g. London) migration controls cultural and language barriers
What does factor immobility cause? inefficient allocation of resources
What are policies to improve occupational immobility? (2) investment in training schemes to book human K subsidisation of the provision of vocational training by private sector firms
What are policies to improve geographical immobility? (3) reforms to the housing market to improve S and reduce P specific subsidies of moving to areas where there are shortages of labour relaxation of migration caps
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