Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics PDF

Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics  Look for the answers to these questions:  What kinds of questions does economics address?  What are the principles of how people make decisions?  What are the principles of how people interact?  What are the principle...

Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics  Look for the answers to these questions:  What kinds of questions does economics address?  What are the principles of how people make decisions?  What are the principles of how people interact?  What are the principles of how the economy as a whole works? © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  What Economics Is All About Scarcity: the limited nature of society’s resources – Society has limited resources Cannot produce all the goods and services people wish to have Economics: is the study of how society manages (allocates) its scarce resources. ?? What kinds of decisions individuals, firms, and society face? © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 3 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  What Economics Is All About  Economists study:  how people decide what to buy, how much to work, save, and spend  how firms decide how much to produce, how many workers to hire  how society decides to divide its resources between national defense, consumer goods, protecting the environment, and other needs  Resources are allocated by the combined choices of millions of households and firms. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 4 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  What Economics Is All About  James Tobin won the Nobel Prize in Economic sciences in 1981 for his work on  “the analysis of financial markets and their relations to expenditure decisions, employment, production and prices"  He explained the portfolio theory by saying “You know, don't put all your eggs in one basket.” © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 5 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. The principles of HOW PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS 1. People face trade- offs 2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it 3. Rational people think at the margin 4. People respond to ©lithian/Shutterstock.com incentives  PRINCIPLE 1: People Face Tradeoffs (no free lunch)  To get something that we like, we have to give up something else that we also like  Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another. Examples:  Having more money to buy stuff requires working longer hours, which leaves less time for leisure.  Reducing pollution raises costs of producing consumer goods and services Why Tradeoff? © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 7 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  Principle 1: People Face Trade-offs  Society faces trade-offs:  National Defense:  Guns vs Butter  During this pandemic: public health vs. economy  Pollution regulations:  cleaner environment (better health) vs reduced incomes © 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, © except 2015 Cengage for use Learning. as permitted All Rights Reserved. Mayinnotabelicense distributed copied, scanned, with or duplicated, a certain in whole product or otherwise on a password-protected or in part, or asservice except for use 8 8 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use. otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 1 People Face Tradeoffs  Society faces an important tradeoff: efficiency vs. equality  Efficiency: when society gets the most from its scarce resources  Equality: when prosperity is distributed uniformly among society’s members  Tradeoff:  To achieve greater equality, could redistribute income from wealthy to poor.  But this reduces incentive to work and produce, shrinks the size of the economic “pie.” © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 9 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 2: The Cost of Something Is What You Give Up to Get It  Making decisions requires  comparing the costs and benefits of alternative choices.  Need to include Opportunity Costs  Opportunity cost of any item is whatever must be given up to obtain it.  It is the best thing that you must give up to get something—the highest-valued alternative forgone.  It is the relevant cost for decision making. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 10 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  Principle 2:  What is the cost of attending college?  What are your thoughts about the saying “The best things in life are free.” © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 11 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 2 The Cost of Something Is What You Give Up to Get It Examples: The opportunity cost of… …going to college for a year is not just the tuition, books, and fees, but also the foregone wages. …seeing a movie is not just the price of the ticket, but the value of the time you spend in the theater. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 12 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 3 Rational People Think at the Margin Rational people  systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objectives.  make decisions by evaluating costs and benefits of marginal changes,  Small incremental adjustments to an existing plan. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 13 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 3 Rational People Think at the Margin  Rational people often make decisions by comparing marginal cost and marginal benefit  Marginal cost is the opportunity cost of a one- unit increase in an activity.  Marginal benefit is what you gain when you get one more unit of something. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 14 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 3 Rational People Think at the Margin  Examples:  Cell phone users with unlimited minutes (the minutes are free at the margin)  Are often prone to making long/frivolous calls  Marginal benefit of the call > 0  A manager considers whether to increase output  Compares the cost of the needed labor and materials to the extra revenue © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 15 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 4: People Respond to Incentives  Incentive:  something that induces a person to act,  i.e. the prospect of a reward or punishment.  Rational people respond to incentives. Examples:  When gas prices rise, consumers buy more hybrid cars and fewer gas guzzling SUVs.  When cigarette taxes increase, teen smoking falls. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 16 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  ACTIVE LEARNING 1 Applying the principles You are selling your 2007 Mustang. You have already spent $1000 on repairs. At the last minute, the transmission dies. You can pay $600 to have it repaired, or sell the car “as is.” In each of the following scenarios, should you have the transmission repaired? Explain. A. Blue book value (what you could get for the car) is $6500 if transmission works, $5700 if it doesn’t B. Blue book value is $6000 if transmission works, $5500 if it doesn’t © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  ACTIVE LEARNING 1 Answers Cost of fixing transmission = $600 A. Blue book value is $6500 if transmission works, $5700 if it doesn’t Benefit of fixing transmission = $800 ($6500 – 5700). Get the transmission fixed. B. Blue book value is $6000 if transmission works, $5500 if it doesn’t Benefit of fixing the transmission is only $500. Do not pay $600 to fix it. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  ACTIVE LEARNING 1 Observations  The $1000 you previously spent on repairs is irrelevant. What matters is the cost and benefit of the marginal repair (the transmission).  The change in incentives from scenario A to scenario B caused your decision to change. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. The principles of HOW PEOPLE INTERACT 5. Trade can make everyone better off 6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity 7. Governments ©Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com can sometimes improve market outcomes  PRINCIPLE 5 Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off  People benefit from trade:  Rather than being self-sufficient, people can  specialize in producing one good or service and exchange it for other goods.  buy a greater variety of goods and services at lower cost  Countries also benefit from trade and specialization:  Get a better price abroad for goods they produce  Buy other goods more cheaply from abroad than could be produced at home © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 21 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to organize Economic Activity  Market: a group of buyers and sellers (need not be in a single location)  “Organize economic activity” means determining  what goods to produce  how to produce them  how much of each to produce  who gets them © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 22 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to Organize Economic Activity  A market economy allocates resources through  decentralized decisions of many households and firms as they interact in markets.  Famous insight by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776)  Each of these households and firms acts as if “led by an invisible hand” to promote general economic well-being. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 23 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to Organize Economic Activity  The invisible hand works through the price system:  Prices:  Determined by interaction of buyers and sellers  Reflect the good’s value to buyers  Reflect the cost of producing the good  Invisible hand:  Prices guide self-interested households and firms to make decisions that maximize society’s economic well-being © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 24 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to Organize Economic Activity Milton Friedman introduces these concepts using a very famous, simple, effective story. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ERbC7JyCfU © 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, © except 2015 Cengage for use Learning. as permitted All Rights Reserved. Mayinnotabelicense distributed copied, scanned, with or duplicated, a certain in whole product or otherwise on a password-protected or in part, or asservice except for use 25 25 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use. otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes  We need govt to enforce the rules and maintain the institutions that are key to a market economy  Important role for govt: enforce property rights (with police, courts)  People are less inclined to work, produce, invest, or purchase if large risk of their property being stolen. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 26 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes  Government - promote efficiency through public poicy  Avoid market failures: market left on its own fails to allocate resources efficiently  Causes of market failure:  Externalities, when the production or consumption of a good affects bystanders (e.g. pollution)  Market power, a single buyer or seller has substantial influence on market price (e.g. monopoly) © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 27 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes  Govt may alter market outcome to promote equity.  If the market’s distribution of economic well-being is not desirable, tax or welfare policies can change how the economic “pie” is divided. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 28 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  ACTIVE LEARNING 2 Discussion Question In each of the following situations, what is the government’s role? Does the government’s intervention improve the outcome? a. Public schools for K-12 b. Workplace safety regulations © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  The principles of HOW THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE WORKS 8: A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services 9: Prices rise when the government prints too much money 10: Society faces a ©nopporn/Shutterstock.com short-run trade-off between inflation  PRINCIPLE 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods & Services  Huge variation in living standards across countries and over time:  Average income in rich countries is more than ten times average income in poor countries.  The U.S. standard of living today is about eight times larger than 100 years ago. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 31 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods & Services  Productivity: the most important determinant of living standards:  the amount of goods and services produced per unit of labor.  depends on the equipment, skills, and technology available to workers.  Other factors (e.g., labor unions, competition from abroad) have far less impact on living standards. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 32 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 9: Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too Much Money  Inflation:  increases in the general level of prices.  In the long run,  inflation is almost always caused by excessive growth in the quantity of money, which causes the value of money to fall.  The faster the govt creates money, the greater the inflation rate. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 33 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  PRINCIPLE 10: Society Faces a Short-run Tradeoff Between Inflation and Unemployment  In the short-run (1–2 years), many economic policies push inflation and unemployment in opposite directions.  Other factors can make this tradeoff more or less favorable, but the tradeoff is always present. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as 34 permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  Summary The principles of decision making are: People face tradeoffs. The cost of any action is measured in terms of foregone opportunities. Rational people make decisions by comparing marginal costs and marginal benefits. People respond to incentives. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  Summary The principles of interactions among people are: Trade can be mutually beneficial. Markets are usually a good way of coordinating trade. Govt can potentially improve market outcomes if there is a market failure or if the market outcome is inequitable. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.  Summary The principles of the economy as a whole are: Productivity is the ultimate source of living standards. Money growth is the ultimate source of inflation. Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. © 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.