Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost 稀缺性, 选择和机会成本
页面内容索引(点击阅读相应段落)
need to make choices at all levels (individuals, firms, governments)
- Consumption: the process by which consumers satisfy their wants.
- Production: the process of creating goods and services in an economy
- Consumers – maximum satisfaction.
- Producers – maximum profit.
- Governments – maximum benefits.
- The need to make choices at all levels for individuals, firms, and governments in light of scarcity is a fact of life.
- At the individual level, people have to decide what to spend their money on and how to allocate their time.
- Firms have to decide what products to produce and how to allocate their resources.
- Governments have to decide what policies to pursue and how to raise revenue.
nature and definition of opportunity cost, arising from choices
- Opportunity cost: the value of the best alternative forgone when making an economic choice
basic questions of resource allocation
- What to produce refers to the specific goods and services that a society produces.
- How to produce refers to the specific methods used to produce those goods and services.
- For whom to produce refers to the distribution of those goods and services among the members of society.