Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Fundamental Economic Concepts

Definitions :

Economics - The branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

Needs - Cannot avoid or help doing something

Wants - Have a desire to possess or do (something); wish for

Opportunity cost- The loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.

Paradox of value- The paradox of value (also known as the diamond-water paradox) is the apparent contradiction that, although water is on the whole more useful.

Trade Offs- tradeoff: an exchange that occurs as a compromise; "I faced a tradeoff between eating and buying my medicine

Three basic economic questions-
1. What is to be produced?
2. How are the goods to be produced?
3. For whom are the goods produced ?


Entreprenur- A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.

scarcity- a small and inadequate amount.

factors of production- In economics, factors of production (or productive inputs or resources) are any commodities or services used to produce goods 

Land- The part of the earth's surface that is not covered by water, as opposed to the sea or the air. 

capital- The most important city or town of a country or region, usually its seat of government.

labor- Work, esp. hard physical work: "manual labor".

utility - The state of being useful, profit-able, or beneficial.

Goods- Benefit or advantage to someone or something.

Services- The action of helping or doing work for someone.

Free enterprise- An economic system in which private business operates in competition and largely free of state control.

Traditional economy- A traditional economy is an economy based on custom and tradition/command. The decisions are based on tradition of the community.

Market economy- an economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine prices.

Mixed economy- An economic system combining private and public enterprise.

Command economy- An economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government.

Captialism- An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

Communism- A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned 

Socialism- A political and economic theory of that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated

Inflation- A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Recession- A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP.

Non profit organization-  often called an NCO, is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends.

Corporations- A company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity (legally a person) and recognized as such in law.

Sole proprietorship- A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole trader or simply a proprietorship is a type of business entity which is owned and run by one.

Proprietor- The owner of a business.

The Sole Proprietor

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