1. Introduction to Economics
Economics – the study of how individuals and societies make decisions about ways to use scarce
resources to fulfill wants and needs.
Economic Questions
Society (we) must figure out,
 WHAT to produce (make)
 HOW MUCH to produce (quantity)
 HOW to produce it (manufacture)
 FOR WHOM to Produce (who gets what)
 WHO gets to make these decisions?
Resources - The things used to make other goods.
Scarcity (The problem): unlimited wants and needs but limited resources
Because ALL resources, goods, and services are limited – we must make choices!
Microeconomics Macroeconomics
Behaviors of individual economic units like Analyzes how the entire national economy
consumers, producers, landowners, families, etc. performs. It analyzes unemployment, inflation,
How and why do they make the decisions they price levels, interest rates (many things we take as
make? given in microeconomics).
Industrial Economics
Industrial Economics is the study of firms, industries markets and their relationship with society
When analyzing decision making at the levels of the individual firm and industry, Industrial Economics
helps us understand such issues as,
 the levels at which capacity, output and prices are set;
 the extent that products are differentiated from each other;
 how much firms invest in research and development (R&D)
 how and why firms advertise
Opportunity Cost = the Value of the Next Best Choice
Full note set with Examples and Questions: http://www.executioncycle.lkblog.com/2012/06/my-
business-economics-and-financial.html

2. Four Factors of Production
1. LAND – Natural Resources
 Water, natural gas, oil, trees (all the stuff we find on, in, and under the land)
2. LABOR – Physical and Intellectual
 Labor is manpower
3. CAPITAL - Tools, Machinery, Factories
 The things we use to make things
 Human capital is brainpower, ideas, innovation
4. ENTREPRENEURSHIP – Investment $$$
 Investing time, natural resources, labor and capital are all risks associated with
production
THREE parts to the Production Process
1. Factors of Production – what we need to make goods and services
2. Producer – company that makes goods and/or delivers services
3. Consumer – people who buy goods and services
Production Process
Full note set with Examples and Questions: http://www.executioncycle.lkblog.com/2012/06/my-
business-economics-and-financial.html

3. Capital Goods and Consumer Goods
 Capital Goods: are used to make other goods
 Consumer Goods: final products that are purchased directly by the consumer
Changes in production
 Division of Labor – different people perform different jobs to achieve greater efficiency
(assembly line).
 Consumption – how much we buy (Consumer Sovereignty)
Conditions that make economic models valid
Ceteris paribus assumption (Ceteris paribus means all else held constant. If you do not hold all other
factors constant then you cannot determine what affected the change.)
Association vs. causation - The fact that one event follows another does not necessarily mean that the
first event caused the second event
What makes economic predictions to be contradictory and corrective actions to be ineffective?
 Economic issues are controversial (complex and several indicator)
 Time delay – information lag, policy determination, policy effectiveness lag
 Positive economics – “If…then” – economists may disagree about the occurrence of the first
event
 Normative economics – predictions based on values, preconceptions
Comparative Economics
Command Economies
 Def: Economic questions answered by the government
 Very little economic choice
 No private ownership
 Communism
 Old Soviet Union, old Communist China, Cuba and North Korea
Communism
 Government should control economy and distribute goods and services to the people
 Karl Marx - Founder of revolutionary socialism and communism
Full note set with Examples and Questions: http://www.executioncycle.lkblog.com/2012/06/my-
business-economics-and-financial.html

4. Free Market (Capitalist) Economies
 Economic questions answered by producers and consumers
 Limited government involvement
 Private property rights
 Wide variety of choices and products
Adam Smith - Explained the workings of the free market within capitalist economies
Government stays out of business practices “hands off” to let the market place determine production,
consumption and distribution. Individual freedom and choice emphasized.
Principles of Capitalism
 Competition – more businesses means lower prices and higher quality products for consumers
to buy.
 Voluntary Exchange – businesses and consumers MUST be free to buy or sell what and when
they want.
 Private Property – Individuals and businesses MUST be able to get the benefits of owning their
OWN property. Government does not control it.
 Consumer Sovereignty – consumers get to make free choices about what to buy and this helps
drive production (Demand drives Supply).
 Profit Motive – people want to make or save $$$$. Their “Self Interest” motivates Capitalism
 Social Safety Net – “Mixed Economy” idea that says the government should NOT allow people
to suffer in economic crisis (natural part of Capitalism’s “Business Cycle”), but provide security
instead – Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, etc.
Mixed Economy/Socialism
 Government involvement and ownership and control of property, of decision making, and
companies.
 Government control of business
 Social “safety net” for people
 Socialism
 Common in Europe, Latin America, and Africa
John Maynard Keynes - Government should intervene in economic emergencies through tax and
spending (Fiscal Policy) and changing the money supply (Monetary Policy). This is done to smooth out
the business cycle (expansion and recession) and keep inflation low.
Full note set with Examples and Questions: http://www.executioncycle.lkblog.com/2012/06/my-
business-economics-and-financial.html

5. When Production Decreases
 Downsizing – Lying off employees to save costs.
 Outsourcing – sending jobs and manufacturing overseas or contracting to outside companies to
save money.
 Bankruptcy – government allows business to restructure its debt, but now all profits go to
paying off debt rather than to the owners/investors.
 Out of Business – lose all your business, money, and profits.
How does ‘Labor’ protect itself?
Labor Unions: organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals
 Wage protection
 Workplace safety
 Benefits
 Job protection
Collective Bargaining - Representatives of the Union and the company negotiate a contract for the
workers; usually they rely on compromise
Strikes - When an agreement cannot be reached, workers stop working to try to force the hand of the
company
Full note set with Examples and Questions: http://www.executioncycle.lkblog.com/2012/06/my-
business-economics-and-financial.html