Civics chapters 18 & 19
Terms
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- economics
- the study on how we make decisions in a world where resources are limited
- capital
- tools, machinery, and buildings used to make other products
- profit
- amount of money left over after all the costs of production have been paid
- opportunity cost
- the cost of the next best use of your time or money when you chose to do one thing rather then the other
- human capital
- the sum of the skills, abilities, and motivation of people
- entrepreneurs
- individuals who start new businesses, introduce new products, and improve management techniques
- marginal benefit
- the additional or extra benefit associated with an action
- consumer sovereighty
- describe the consumer as the "king" or ruler of the market, the one who determines what products will be produced
- gdp
- the total value in dollars of all the final goods and services produced in a country during a single year
- natural resources
- all of the "gilts of nature" that make production possible
- wants
- things we would like to have that make life more comfortable and enjoyable
- free enterprise
- another term used to describe the American economy where competition is allowed to flourish with a minimum of gov. interference
- factor markets
- markets where productive resources are bought and sold
- goods
- tangible products that we use to satisfy our wants and needs
- division of labor
- breaking down of a job into separate, smaller tasks, which are performed by different workers
- scarcity
- whenever we do not have enough resources to produce all of the things that we would like to have
- economic models
- simplified representations of the real world that are used to explain how the economy works, or to predict what would happen if something in the economy should change
- economic interdependance
- relying on others and others relying on us to provide services and goods that we consume
- service
- work that is performed for someone else
- profit motive
- driving force that encourages individuals and organizations to improve their material well being and is largely responsible for the growth of a free enterprise system based on capitalism
- competition
- the struggle b/t buyers and sellers to get the best product aat the lowest price
- standard of living
- quality of life based on the possession of necessities and luxuries that make life easier
- capitalism
- an economic system in which private citizens own and use the factors of production in order to speak a profit
- needs
- things needed to live
- factors of production
- resources necessary to produce goods and services such as natural resources, labor, capitol, and enterprises
- private property rights
- we have the freedom to own and use, or dispose of our own property as we choose as long as we do not interfere with the rights of others
- labor
- the nations labor force or human resources
- voluntary exchange
- act of buyers and sellers freely engaging in market transactions
- productivity
- a measure of the amount of output produced by a given amount of inputs in a specific period of time
- marginal cost
- the extra or additional cost of producing one additional unit of output
- specialization
- takes place when people, businesses, regions, and countries concentrate on goods and services that they can produce better then anyone else
- factors of production
- resources necessary to produce goods and services such as natural resources, labor, capitol, and enterprises
- cost benefit analysis
- requires people to compare the marginal cost and marginal benefits of a decision
- trade-off
- alternative that you face if you decide to do one thing rather then the other