Economics
Economics is the study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Definitions
According to Principles of Economics by Timothy Taylor (3rd edition),
- Economics. The study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Key concepts
- Economy. The social arrangements that determine what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced.
- Market. An institution that brings together buyers and sellers of goods or services.
- Market-oriented economy. An economy in which most economic decisions are made by buyers and sellers, who may be individuals or firms.
- Command economy. An economy in which the government either makes or strongly influences most economic decisions.
- Black market. An illegal market that breaks government rules on prices or sales.
- Division of labor. Dividing the work required to produce a good or service into tasks performed by different workers.
- Specialization. When a worker or a firm focus on particular tasks in the overall production process for which they are well-suited.
- Economy of scale. When the average cost of producing each individual unit declines as total output increases.
- Globalization. The trend in which buying and selling in markets have increasingly crossed national borders.
- Exports. Goods and services that are produced domestically and sold in another country.
- Imports. Goods and services produced abroad and sold domestically.
- Microeconomics. The branch of economics that focuses on actions of particular actors within the economy, like households, workers, and business firms.
- Macroeconomics. The branch of economics that focuses on the economy as a whole, including issues like growth, unemployment, inflation, and the balance of trade.
- Circular flow diagram. A diagram that illustrates the economy as consisting of households and firms interacting in a goods and services market, a labor market, and a financial capital market.
- Goods and services market. A market in which firms are sellers of what they produce and households are buyers.
- Labor market. The market in which households sell their labor as workers to businesses or other employers.
- Financial capital market. The market in which those who save money provide financial capital and receive a rate of return from those who wish to raise money and pay a rate of return.
