The study of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity and of the results of those choices for society

Someone with well-defined goals who tries to fulfill those goals as best he or she can

The benefit of taking any action minus its cost

The value of the next-best alternative that must be foregone in order to undertake this activity

Economic analysis that offers cause-and-effect explanations of economic relationships

Economic statements that reflect subjective value judgements and that are based on ethical positions

The argument that because something is true for a part, it also is true for the whole

The argument that because event A precedes event B, event A causes event B

The fact that a given dollar amount today is equivalent to a larger dollar amount in the future

A cost that is beyond recovery at the moment a decision is made

The increase in total cost that results from carrying out one additional unit of an activity

The increase in total benefit that results from carrying out one more unit of an activity

Total cost of undertaking n units of an activity divided by n

Total benefit of undertaking n units of an activity divided by n

The study of individual choice under scarcity, and its implications for the behaviour of prices and quantities in individual markets

The study of the performance of national economies and the policies that governments use to try to improve that performance

Obtaining the maximum possible output from a given amount of inputs

A state of impartiality and fairness

One person has an absolute advantage over another if he or she takes fewer hours to perform a task than the other person does

One person has a comparative advantage over another if his or her opportunity cost of performing a task is lower than the other person's opportunity cost

Units of output per hour divided by units of input per hour

A graph that describes the maximum amount of one good that can be produced for every possible level of production of the other good

Any combination of goods for which currently available resources do not allow an increase in the production of one good without a reduction in the production of the other

Any combination of goods that can be produced using currently available resources

Any combination of goods that cannot be produced using currently available resources

Any combination if goods for which currently avalaible resources enable an increase in the production of one good without a reduction in the production of the other