AP课程名词解释

　　以下是留学360给大家分享的AP课程微观经济学名词解释，希望对各位有所帮助。

　　Please highlight critical terms;

　　*=not important for exam but you should know

　　Chapter One Basic Concepts

　　economics -the study of choices people make in a world of limits *choice- the act of selecting one of many alternative things to do or consume scarcity- people cannot have everything they want; resources and goods are limited compared to desires. *resources- things that are used to make goods. Sometimes called factors or inputs. These include land, labor, skills, capital, and natural resources. *land- the resource of space, especially when used to produce food. Generally, land can usually be used over and over without vanishing. *labor- the time of people as they work to produce things. *skills- ability, talents, and training enabling people to produce things. *capital- a man-made resource, such as machines, tools, and equipment. Capital usually lasts a long time, and can be used without being used up. *natural resources- resources such as oil, coal, minerals, lumber, and water which can be extracted from nature or produced in time with its help. *products- goods or services which have been produced. Sometimes called output. ceteris paribus- examining the effects of one event or circumstance in isolation from everything else by assuming that nothing else is changing. The term is Latin for “everything else being the same.” normative economics- subjective judgments about what ought to be or what should happen. These cannot be tested or proven scientifically, as they are only opinion. microeconomics- the study of small-scale decisions and their results. These include the production, consumption, and trade decisions made by individuals, households, business firms, and industries. Government regulation of trade, production, and consumption is also studied. private sector - businesses and individuals macroeconomics- the study of large scale decisions and their results. These include spending, taxing, production, and wealth transfer decisions by governments and countries. The policy decisions that result in unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and high interest rates arealso studied public sector –government

　　Efficiency-the economy is using all of its resources productively, as is ture at every point on the Production possibility frontier.

　　Production possibilities frontier-all the combinations of the two goods that could be produced using all of the available resources and technologies.

　　production possibilities - the combinations of two goods that can be produced with given resources efficient, efficiency -getting the most possible of whatever you are trying to get; efficient is the adjective, production possibilities curve -a graphical representation of the efficient combinations of two goods that are possible to produce at a particular time, given a set of resources (and their current abilities). opportunity cost, when compared with other producers (resources) law of comparative advantage -the rule that says that production of goods is maximized if each resource or producer is used to make the good that the resource or producer can produce at lowest marginal opportunity cost *specialization- concentration on producing one kind of good or performing one kind of action rather than producing a variety of goods for oneself. absolute advantage -the ability to produce a greater amount of some good than other producers

　　opportunity cost-the highest valued alternative given up; the relevant cost in every decision.

　　economic (allocative) efficiency -when all the gains (utility) possible fro trade have been achieved; the situation in which no person can be made better off without making another person worse off;

　　comparative advantage-the ability to produce at lowest opportunity cost; the basis for trade and specialization. absolute advantage-the ability to produce a greater amount with the same resources

　　the law of increasing costs- as more of a product is produced, the opportunity cost increases.

　　wage (w)- the price of each unit of the variable input (usually labor).

　　Rental rate-the price of capital

　　Command economy- the central government dictates what will or will not be produce

　　Capitalism- an economic system where supply and demand determine price

　　Mixed economy-a blend of government commands and capitalism