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Economics Is The Fundamental Force

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No matter who you are, economics is integral to everything you do. The decisions one makes as a consumer, employee, and voter impact his or her life in multiple aspects, often in ways that are not obvious. The allocation of resources by companies, the government, and other people can alter your economic opportunities greatly, and thus it is essential to understand how the choices that not only you, but everyone and everything else makes, will alter your future. Doing so can can greatly enhance your economic opportunities, while not being aware, and making poor economic decisions, can greatly diminish your future economic well-being. Every choice you make involves economic decision-making, and will affect what opportunities you have later …show more content…

In turn, this will increase the demand for goods needed to make more cars, such as rubber and metal. In addition, even more workers are hired to make cars (at least for a time), thus creating even more jobs. In this way, your and everyone else 's decision to consume cars has stimulated a portion of the economy. Perhaps this stimulation results in an opportunity for you to gain a better job, thus gaining you a higher wage, and raising your standard of living. This is entirely hypothetical, yet plausible, scenario of how your contribution to the economy as a consumer could enhance your economic opportunities. Your decision as a consumer can do more than stimulate the growth of a business; it can contribute to the decline of one as well. For example, perhaps you decide that you no longer wish to eat meat, and decide to go vegetarian. This may seem like a relatively personal, and inconsequential decision, yet it is actually very influential. If a large number of people decided to become vegetarian, the meat industry would take a direct hit: obviously, there would be less meat demanded, and profits would decrease. Furthermore, as less people demanded meat, the price would go down, as less people purchased meat and it became harder to sell. Another effect this newfound vegetarianism would have is due to cross-price elasticity of meat and vegetables. As the demand of meats goes down, the price of vegetables and grains would likely go up, as more are demanded.

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