Ten Principles of Economics and How Markets Works Rian Kotter ECO/365 Principles of Microeconomics January 19, 2017 Michael Blakley Ten Principles of Economics and How Markets Works As a part of the firm’s marketing research committee we need to understand the fundamentals of microeconomics and the ten basic principles associated with economics and its workings. (Mankiw, 2013) As discussed in Principles of Microeconomics, the following four principles deal with understanding the decision making process of people, which are: Trade-offs – the everyday act of deciding to buy one thing over another or spending one’s day, such as going skiing vs. working on a project at work that could help get a promotion). When discussing trade-offs …show more content…
Making the calculation, the ticket should be $500, however if they are short of filling the plane by 10 seats, they can reduce the loss of those ten seats and possibly still make money by selling the last few seats for a little less as long as it covers the marginal cost of associate with the peanuts and soda the passenger might use (Mankiw, 2013). Incentives – this principle is simple to understand, which involves enticing people to do something you want them to do by giving them something they view as worth the trade-off or difference in cost of making one decision over another. (Mankiw, 2013) The next three principles deal with the interaction of people. Trade makes Everyone Better – by trading with one another we can all win or come out for the better. That’s because, not everyone can make something as good or at the same cost as someone else, for the simple reason that we do not have access to the same amount resources or skills to produce something. (Mankiw, 2013) A town in the mountains would have a difficult time suppling the same amount or quality of fish that a town located on a lake or the coast of an ocean. Yet the same town has access to a better supply of granite from its quarries or lumber from its forests than the town better equipped for fishing. Organizing Economic Activity with Markets – Markets are made up of a multitude of companies and individuals buying, selling, and consuming goods and services. These markets are in turn
They explained that: “Changes in incentives influence human behavior in predictable ways”. The main point of this concept is that the more attractive an option is the more likely an individual to choose it. Another point that they also focused on was the fact that if a particular product more costly, the more unappealing it will become to the consumer. They used examples such as employees will worker harder if they feel that they will be greatly rewarded or a student will study material that they feel will be on an
well. This is due to the profitable and valuable items that are exchanged through trade. In document 4,
The fourth and final principle talks about incentives, how people respond to incentives in decision making. When deciding what an individual wants or what goals to set for him or her, oftentimes having certain incentives will highly influence the decision-making process. When there is a valued opportunity or reward for achieving such a goal, an individual will look at that incentive and decide to what methods he or she will use to reach the ultimate goal.
However, it was apparent to economists that nations with similar resource endowments exchanged similar products with each other. Economists felt that trade explained solely by comparative advantage was an incomplete analysis of international trade. Furthermore, since the classical trade theory was unable to explain intraindustry trade, economists decided to expand on the classical trade theory by creating a new theory of trade (Carbaugh, 2011). The new theory states that economies of scale provide incentive for a country to specialize in a particular product (Carbaugh, 2011). Furthermore, based on economies of scale, nations with similar factor endowments will trade with each other as sometimes it is beneficial (Carbaugh, 2011). Arguments stemming from this new trade theory puts the economic case for free trade in doubt.
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.
People will engage in a trade, if both parties think that the benefit will outweigh the cost so that is when the trade occurs. If both parties do not believe in that they will not benefit from the trade, then the trade will not occur. A trade does not happen unless both parties think they will win. Trading created wealth in reality, so the benefits outweigh the cost. (pg 20)
Without trading, it would be difficult to obtain needed materials ourselves and only have access to the limited natural resources in our environment. Trading has greatly advanced from early civilizations, one example being the Indus River Valley. The Indus River Valley civilization was able to trade within their civilization as well as Mesopotamia, according to Jackson J. Spielvogel, author of World history and geography textbook. Because of limited transportation, the Indus River Valley civilization was limited with whom they could trade with and what they could trade for. Over the years, trading advanced, allowing more civilizations to trade with each other giving them access to more kinds of goods. Today, we use trading in our lives to obtain the materials we need from
money’ and ‘one action gives rise to another’. That means if people are rewarded they will be motivated
In its essence, an incentive is a deliberate proposal calculated to make a person choose a certain action. Thus, the reason why incentives are so popular in society is because everything and
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
Economic analysts say trading among other countries with no stipulations improve global efficiency in resource allocation (Tupy, 2005). Free Trade delivers goods and services to those who value them most and allows partners to gain from specializing in the producing those goods and services they do best; according to Tupy’s findings, Economists call that the law of comparative advantage. Tupy also states when producers create goods they are comparatively skilled at i.e. Germans producing beer and the French producing wine, those goods increase in abundance and quality. Trade allows consumers to benefit from more efficient production methods, for example, without large markets for goods and services, large production runs would not be economical. Large production runs, in turn, are instrumental to reducing product costs while lower production
Consider trade that takes place inside your home. Your family is likely to be involved in trade with other families on a daily basis. Most families do not build their own homes, make their own clothes, or grow their own food.
According to Colander, "The reason two countries trade is that trade can make both countries better off" (2004, p. 416). In economics, the theory of comparative advantage clarifies why it can be advantageous for two countries to trade, even though one of them may be able to produce every kind of item more cheaply than the other. What matters is not the absolute cost of production, but instead, the ratio between how easily the two countries can produce different kinds of goods. The basic idea of the principle of comparative advantage is that as long as the relative opportunity costs of producing goods differ among countries, then there are potential gains from trade.
In my job, I also receive the incentive of money for working. Incentives also show up while driving; not getting a speeding ticket is the incentive for driving the speed limit. Tradeoffs and incentives are only two of the ten principles that I come across in my life at home.
The fourth stage consists of individual and environmental influences that affect all five stages of the decision process. Individual characteristics include motives, values, lifestyle, and personality; the social influences are culture, reference groups, and family. Situational influences, such as a consumer’s financial condition, also influence the decision process. (Engel, 1995)