Microeconomics is a branch of economics that examines how individuals and firms make decisions about the allocation of scarce resources and how they interact in markets. YouTube / Polishing Talents
Foundations of Economics
- Scarcity: Resources are limited, which means people must make choices about how to use them.
- Opportunity Cost: Every choice has a cost, which is the next best alternative foregone.
- Supply and Demand: The amount of a product available and the desire for that product determine its price.
- Incentives: Motivations that influence the decisions of individuals and firms.
Basic Economic Problems:
- What to Produce: Determining which goods and services to produce.
- How to Produce: Deciding the methods for producing goods and services.
- For Whom to Produce: Allocating goods and services among different people and groups.
Factors of Production:
- Land: Natural resources used to produce goods.
- Labor: Human effort used in production.
- Capital: Machinery, tools, and buildings used in production.
- Management (Entrepreneurship): The ability to combine land, labor, and capital to produce goods and services.
Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium
- Demand: The quantity of a product that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various price levels.
- Supply: The quantity of a product that producers are willing and able to sell at different price levels.
- Market Equilibrium: The point at which the quantity demanded equals the quantity supplied, determining the market price.
Elasticities
Elasticity: A measure of how much the quantity demanded or supplied of a product responds to changes in price, income, or other factors.
- Price Elasticity of Demand: Indicates how much the quantity demanded changes in response to a price change.
- Income Elasticity of Demand: Measures how the quantity demanded changes as consumer income changes.
- Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand: This shows how the quantity demanded of one product changes in response to the price change of another product.
Government Intervention
Government Intervention: Actions by the government to influence the economy, including:
- Regulations: Rules set to control market activities.
- Taxes: Financial charges imposed on goods, services, and incomes.
- Subsidies: Financial assistance provided to support industries.
- Price Controls: Government-imposed limits on the prices of goods and services.
These interventions aim to correct market failures, redistribute resources, or achieve economic stability.
Market Failure
Market Failure: This occurs when the free market does not distribute resources efficiently, leading to a loss of economic value.
Examples of Market Failures:
- Externalities: Costs or benefits of an economic activity experienced by third parties.
- Negative Externalities: Such as air pollution from factories.
- Positive Externalities: Such as the societal benefits of education and healthcare.
- Public Goods: Goods that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, like national defense.
- Monopolies: Markets where a single firm controls the majority of supply, limiting competition.
Understanding these core concepts of microeconomics helps in analyzing how markets work and the roles individuals, firms, and governments play in the economy. (Microeconomics)