People cannot have everything they need and want –Need: air, food, shelter that is necessary for survival –Want: item we desire by NOT essential for survival People must decide which choice will fill their needs best

Economics is the study of how people seek to satisfy their needs and wants by making choices Why must people make choices? –Scarcity- limited quantities of resources to meet unlimited wants –A shortage- when producers will not or cannot offer goods and services at the current prices- is different Ex: you visit a store one day to find a product sold out, but return a few days later to find it replenished

Resources that are used to make all goods and services Land –All natural resources (found in nature) used to produce goods and services Ex: coal, water, etc. Labor –Efforts a person devotes to a task for which that person is paid Capital –Any human-made resource that is used to produce other goods and services Physical and human capital

Physical –Human-made objects used to create other goods and services Buildings and tools –Important because it can save people and companies a great deal of time and money Which is more productive? –Washing dishes by hand OR –Buying a dishwasher?

Human –Knowledge and skills a worker gains through education and experience Ex: medical school training Entrepreneurs –Pull these resources (land, labor, capital) together –Ambitious leaders who decide how to combine the factors of production to create new goods and services

Scarce resources –No matter what good or service we look at— The supplies of land, labor, and capital used to produce it are scarce Because each resource has alternative uses

All individuals, businesses, and groups make decisions that involve trade-offs –All alternatives that we give up whenever we choose one course of action over another Individuals and Trade-offs –If you choose to spend more time at work, what are you giving up? Businesses and Trade-offs –Decision to make one item may keep you form making another

Society and Trade-offs –Guns or butter A country that decides to produce more military goods (guns) has fewer resources to devote to consumer goods (butter) and vice versa The most desirable alternative given up as the result of a decision is called the opportunity cost. Thinking at the Margin –Deciding whether to do or use one additional unit of some resource –For every additional hour of study, the benefit is a better grade; opportunity cost- less sleep

Decision makers need to compare opportunity costs and benefits When opportunity costs outweigh the benefits, then no more units should be added

A Production Possibilities Curve shows alternative ways to use an economy’s resources

Curve represents a point at which a country is using all of its resources to produce a maximum combination of the two products (ex: computers and space missions) At point e in this example, resources are devoted to the production of four space missions and 380 thousand computers. © 2001 Prentice Hall Business Publishing Economics: Principles and Tools, 2/e O’Sullivan & Sheffrin  To increase the number of space missions by one, 80 thousand computers will have to be sacrificed. i

Efficiency –Using resources in such a way as to maximize the production or output of goods and services –Any point inside the line indicates and underutilization of resources –Means using fewer resources than the economy is capable of using

When the economy is at point i, resources are not fully employed and/or they are not used efficiently. © 2001 Prentice Hall Business PublishingEconomics: Principles and Tools, 2/eO’Sullivan & Sheffrin

Point h is desirable because it yields more of both goods, but not attainable given the amount of resources available. © 2001 Prentice Hall Business PublishingEconomics: Principles and Tools, 2/eO’Sullivan & Sheffrin

Growth –If the quantity or quality of land, labor, or capital changes, then the production curve will move –Ex: more immigrants move to a country  more labor available  more production

To increase the production of one good without decreasing the production of the other, the PPF curve must shift outward. © 2001 Prentice Hall Business PublishingEconomics: Principles and Tools, 2/eO’Sullivan & Sheffrin  From point f, an additional 150 thousand computers or two more space missions are now possible.

Cost –Cost is not necessarily money –It is the alternative we give up when we choose one option over the other –Law of increasing costs As production switches from one item to another, more land and more resources are necessary to increase production of the 2 nd item. Therefore the opportunity costs increase As we move along the curve, we trade-off more and more to get less and less additional output

Resources are not perfectly adaptable. –The PPF curve has a concave shape because resources are not perfectly adaptable in production. As we increase the production of one good, we sacrifice progressively more of the other. © 2001 Prentice Hall Business PublishingEconomics: Principles and Tools, 2/eO’Sullivan & Sheffrin