Foundation
"Want"
Marginal
"Additional"
Tangible
Able to be felt by touch
Economic System
The way in which a society decides what goods to produce, how to produce goods, and for whom goods will be produced
Trade-Off
A situation in which more of one thing necessarily means less of something else
Incentive
Something that encourages or motivates a person
to take action
Goods
Anything that satisfies a person's wants or
bring satisfaction
Free Enterprise
An economic system in which individuals (not the government) own most, if not all, the resources and control their use. The government plays only a small part in the economy
Scarcity
The conditions in which our wants are greater than the resources available to satisfy those wants
Theory
An explanation of how something works, designed to answer a question for which there is no obvious answer
Utility
The quality of bringing satisfaction or
happiness
Socialism
An economic system in which the government controls and may own many of the resources.
Production Possibilities Frontier
A graphic representation of all possible combinations of 2 goods that an economy can produce
Micro
The branch of economics that deals with human behavior and choices as they relate to relatively small units - individuals, business firms, and Single Markets.
Labor
the physical and mental talents that people contribute to the production of goods and services
Mixed Economy
An economy that is neither purely capitalist or purely socialist; an economy that has some elements of both capitalism and socialism
Rationing Device
A means for deciding who gets what portion of the available resources and goods
Macro
The branch of economics that deals with human behavior and choices as they relate to the entire economy.
Entrepreneurship
The special talent that some people have for searching out and taking advantage of new business opportunities and developing new products
Surplus Value
The difference between the total value of production and the subsistence wages paid to workers.