10 Principles of Economics

Ten Principles of Economics Thinking Like an Economist Interdependence and the Gains from Trade The study of economics is guided by a few big ideas. Economists view the world as both scientists and policymakers. The theory of comparative advantage explains how people benefit from economic interdependence.

A flawlessly competitive market has several different representatives selling the exact same products. These representatives are considered to be price takers in reference to the competition. Price takers are firms that have no market power. They simply have to take the market price as given (Lumen, 2017). A monopoly starts when a single company sells a product that cannot be reproduced. Microsoft is a perfect example of a company that is seen as a monopoly due to its control of the operating systems market.

Negative externalities are costs imposed upon an individual or group that is outside or external to a transaction.

Economics is the social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and with the theory and management of economies or economic systems. All economists agree on one thing, the economy is large and it is unpredictable. However, throughout the years economists have developed some simple but widely applicable principles that are useful when trying to understand decisions that are made by everyday people to the workings of highly complex markets. There are Seven Core Principles of Economics. These principles are: Scarcity Principle, Cost-Benefit Principle, Principle of Unequal Costs, Principle of Comparative Advantage, Principle of Increasing Opportunity Cost, Equilibrium Principle, and

Externality can be either positive or negative. If one is building a plant to extract oil from the ground, the positive externality is the added jobs for the community. However, the potential pollution from the plant could be conceived as negative. The externality affect is when one does not control the impact from another person or companies decision. Another positive externality is the improvement of a workforce in an organization that employs local labor. Pollution is widely viewed as the top negative externality.

Oligopolies are a type of market structure evident in Australia, which is comprised of 2 or more firms having a significant share of the market. In an oligopoly the few firms sell similar but differentiated or homogenous products and is characterised by a large number of buyers making it a form of imperfect competition. This market structure is evident through the Big Four Banks, Phone Industry - Vodafone, Optus and Telstra.

The first concept I am going to discuss is an oligopoly. There are several characteristics that make up an oligopoly. One characteristic is that there are many firms in the industry but only a few firms that make up the majority of the market share. In the United States soda market, three firms (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group) make up almost ninety percent of the market (Schiller, 246). Another characteristic is that in an oligopoly, the oligopolists have substantial influence over price (though one oligopolist is usually the price leader). This market power is determined by the number of producers in the industry, the

A market is defined as an institution that brings together buyers (demanders) and sellers (suppliers) of a particular good or service. A Market structure is the relationship among the buyers and sellers of a market and how prices are determined through outside influences. There are four different types of market structures. Two on opposite extremes, and two comfortably in the middle. On one end is perfect competition, which acts as a starting point in price and output determination. Pure competition is when a large number of firms sell a standardized product, entry and exit is very easy, and an individual firm cannot control the price. On the other extreme end is Pure monopoly. A monopoly is characterized by an absence of competition, which will often allow one seller to control the market. A Pure monopoly is essentially the same thing, but also includes near impossible entry and no substitute goods. Two more common market structures are monopolistic competition and oligopoly. Monopolistic competition has a large number of sellers producing different products, while an oligopoly has only a few number of sellers producing similar products. All in all pure competition, pure monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly are all unique market structures with differing characteristics, but have one main goal, profit maximization.

Monopoly is a term to describe an industry where a seller of a product or service does not have a competitor offering a close substitute. The word is derived from the Greek words monos (meaning one) and polein (meaning to sell). Rarely does a pure monopoly exist. In a pure monopoly there is only one company making and selling the item in question; however there can also be the situation where there is one company who has the bulk of sales and the other firms in the same market have little or no impact on the overriding company. Due to lack of competitors, the monopoly company has control of the supply and price of the good or service, unless there is government intervention. The monopoly will

Monopoly occurs when one firm sells a good service that has no close substitutes and a barrier blocks the entry of new firms. The types of barriers to entry are

A monopolistic competition describes a common market structure in which firms have many competitors or sellers, but each one sells a vaguely distinctive product or service. One of this market structure’s characteristics is that each individual firm makes independent decisions about price and output, based on its product, its market, and its costs of production (Economics Online, 2015). Another characteristic is there is freedom to enter or leave the market, since there are no major barriers to entry or exit. The opposite of this market structure is an oligopoly. Oligopoly means few sellers. Oligopoly is the market structure in which there are only a few firms or a few firms dominate the market (Amacher & Pate, 2013). In an oligopolistic market, each seller supplies a large

For an economy to thrive it must spend money. The amount of money that is spent can vary greatly from one year to the next. When interest rates are low and reasonable, more loans may be taken and this money is put back into the economy. This influx of monies into the economy can create jobs which lower the unemployment rate. A nation must be able to engage in free trade to help import goods and services that it may be lacking in. When a nation has goods and services that it excels with it can export them to other nations that are in need of them. This import and export cycle determines a nation’s trade balance.

When demand within a market increases, the equilibrium price of the product increases along with the quantity sold at the equilibrium price. If the market structure is a perfect competition, an increase in demand allows firms or industries to raise the price of

Perfect competition: in this competition, no participant dominates the market thus; no specific seller has the power to set the prices of homogeneous goods. This therefore makes the conditions of a perfect competitive market stricter than the rest of the market structures. In this market, AT&T should be willing to sell their services in a certain price that reciprocates to their demand to maximize profits.

b) In a monopolistic competition structure, although there are numerous firms, they carry different products. Due to product differentiation, each company is able to somewhat control their own pricing.