1
A decision made by an individual between at least two goods
Choice
The branch of economics concerned with the study of individual choices
Microeconomics
A thing, whether material or immaterial, which is desired by an individual
Good
The condition of being limited
Scarcity
The desire to acquire goods
Want
The expected material or immaterial effect from acquiring a good
Benefit
The expected material or immaterial loss from acquiring a good
Cost
A good which has no cost to obtain
Free good
A good which is naturally or unnaturally limited
Scarce good
The value placed on whatever must be sacrificed in order to obtain a good
Opportunity cost
An unintended consequence to a neutral party resulting from a choice
Externality
An externality which is beneficial to the neutral party
Positive Externality
An externality which is costly to the neutral party
Negative Externality
The condition of being mathematically optimal with respect to labor, cost, and time
Efficiency
A mathematical representation or abstraction of a microeconomic process
Model
When an individual makes a choice, a good which is thought to produce the benefits another good would provide, but can be acquired at the same or lower cost
Substitute
The additional benefit from acquiring a good
Marginal Benefit
The additional cost from acquiring a good
Marginal Cost
The amount of product consumers plan to purchase at any given price
Demand
The amount of product consumers plan to purchase at a given price
Quantity Demanded
How responsive consumers are to a change in a product’s price
Price Elasticity of Demand
The condition of a product’s quantity demanded changing significantly over a small change in price
Elastic Demand
The condition of a product’s quantity demanded changing insignificantly over a small change in price
Inelastic Demand
The line representing how quantity demanded changes relative to price
Demand Curve
The line representing how quantity supplied changes relative to marginal cost
Supply Curve