Term
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Definition
| the study of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity and of the results of those choices for society. |
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Definition
| someone with well-defined goals who tries to fulfill those goals as best he or she can |
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Term
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Definition
| the economic surplus from taking any action is the benefit of taking that action minus its cost |
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Term
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Definition
| the opportunity cost of an activity is the value of the next-best alternative that must be forgone in order to undertake the activity |
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Term
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Definition
| a cost that is beyond recovery at the moment a decision must be made |
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Term
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Definition
| the increase in total cost that results from carrying out of one additional unit of an activity |
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Term
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Definition
| the increase in total benefit that results from carrying out one additional unit of an activity |
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Term
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Definition
| the total cost of undertaking n units of an activity divided by n |
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Term
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Definition
| the total benefit of undertaking n units of an activity divided by n |
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Term
| normative economic principle |
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Definition
| one that says how people should behave |
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Term
| positive economic principle |
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Definition
| one that predicts how people will behave |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of individual choice under scarcity and its implications for the behavior of prices and quantities in individual markets |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of the performance of national economies and the policies that governments use to try to improve that performance |
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