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Economics Class...

Chapter One Vocabulary:

To use the Quizlet flashcards for Chapter One please click here. The vocabulary for the first chapter is included below.


Scarcity: Idea that all of our resources are limited.
Economics: The study of how people satisfy their seemingly unlimited wants with the use of scarce resources.
Opportunity Cost: The value of the one next best alternative when you make a decision.
Trade-Offs: All of the other alternatives when a decision is made.
Factors of Production: The land, labor, capital, entrepreneurs, technology used to make products.
Land (Natural Resource): Gifts of nature.
Labor (Human Resource): People with their efforts and skills.
Capital (Capital Resource): Man made things.
Entrepreneurs: Risk takers who introduce new products or start new businesses. 
Technology: The use of science to develop new products.
Consumer Goods: Products for individual use.
Capital Goods: Only factories, equipment, machines and tools used by businesses to make consumer goods.
Fundamental Economic Questions: What to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce it for?
Economic System: How a country is set up to answer the fundamental economic questions.
Real costs: The actual materials used to make something.
Production Possibilities Curves (PPC): Shows how much a business can produce of two products if they are efficient.
Resource: Anything that can be used.
Productive Resource: Anything that can be used to make something else.
Specialization: Where a business is only making one kind of product.

Chapter Two Vocabulary:

Three Governments…
Democracy: Everyone is equal.
Oligarchy: Small group is in charge.

Dictatorship: One person is in charge.

Economic Systems...
Market: Producers and consumers make economic decisions
Command: Government makes economic decisions.
Traditional: Ancestors made economic decisions.
Subsistence: Individuals make economic decisions for themselves.

Political Economic Systems...
1) Capitalism= Market + Democracy
2) Mixed Free Enterprise= Market + Democracy + Slight Command (Example: USA)
3) Socialism= Market + Command + Democracy or Oligarchy (Example: England, Germany)
4) Fascism=Command + Slight Market + Dictatorship (Example: Nazi Germany)
5) Communism=Command + Oligarchy (Example: Cuba)

Six Characteristics of a Market Economy... 
1)Free Exchange: Freedom to buy & sell.
2)Private Ownership: Freedom to own what you want.
3)Self-Interest: Greed; Idea that people do what benefits them most
4) Profit Motive: People go into business to make money.
5) Consumer Sovereignty: Businesses cater to consumers.
6) Competition: Businesses compete to make money.

Scarcity: The idea that all of our resources are limited.
Economics: The study of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity