MicroeconomicsECON 2302Spring 2010

Marilyn Spencer, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics

Chapter 2

AnnouncementAnnouncement

I have to cancel my office hours Thursday, January 21, because I have a department meeting.

Please phone or email for an appointment if you need to meet with me before my Tuesday, January 26 office hours.

Quiz 1Before class on Thursday, January 28, send me an email

from the email address you’ll be using regularly during this course.

My email address is marilyn.spencer@tamucc.edu.

4 points

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Use a production possibilities frontier to analyze opportunity cost and trade-offs.

Understand comparative advantage and explain how it is the basis for trade.

Explain the basic idea of how a market system works.L

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Economists generally use a scientific approach:

Scientific method

Making assumptions

Constructing economic modelsAbstractSimplified

Why economists don’t all agree:Different assumptions, which lead

to and/or arise from:

Different models (positive analysis)

Different values (normative analysis)

Positive v. Normative Analysis:

Positive statements are statements that describe the world as it is.Called descriptive analysis

Normative statements are statements about how the world should be.Called prescriptive analysis

The Role of Assumptions Economists make assumptions in order to

make the world easier to understand.

The art in scientific thinking is deciding which assumptions to make.

Economists use different assumptions to answer different questions.

Production Possibilities Frontier

The production possibilities frontier is a graph showing the various combinations of output that the economy can possibly produce given the available factors of production and technology.

Production Possibilities Frontiers and Real-world Trade-offs

Graphing the Production Possibilities Frontier2 - 1

BMW’s Production Possibilities Frontier

Drawing a Production Possibilities Frontier for Rosie’s Boston Bakery

2 - 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVE1

Hours Spent Making Quantity Made

Choice Cakes Pies Cakes Pies

A 5 0 5 0

B 4 1 4 2

C 3 2 3 4

D 2 3 2 6

E 1 4 1 8

F 0 5 0 10

Production Possibilities Frontiers and Real-world Trade-offs

Increasing Marginal Opportunity Costs

2 - 2

As the economy moves down the production possibilities frontier, it experiences increasing marginal opportunity costs because increasing automobile production by a given quantity requires larger and larger decreases in aircraft carrier production.

More funds for bank and automobile bailouts means less funds for other worthy recession – ending programs.

Trade-offs and government funding to help end the recession 2 - 1

Review: Why is the PPF drawn with this particular

shape?

What would be the implications of a different

shape?

Production Possibilities Frontiers and Real-world Trade-offs

Economic GrowthEconomic Growth The ability of the economy to produce increasing quantities of goods and services.

2 - 3

Economic Growth

Concepts Illustrated by theProduction Possibilities Frontier

Efficiency

Fixed technology

Tradeoffs

Opportunity Cost

Economic Growth

What would it look like if…? Not all resources were being used? A new, better technology was adopted? A war, hurricane or earthquake destroyed some

of the resources? People decided they wanted to drive bigger cars? More resources were discovered? A percentage of the workers became infected

with AIDS?

TradeLEARNING OBJECTIVE2

Trade The act of buying or selling.

Specialization and Gains from Trade

2 - 4Production Possibilities for You and Your Neighbor, Without Trade

TradeSpecialization and Gains from Trade

2 - 5Gains from Trade

TradeAbsolute Advantage Versus Comparative Advantage

Absolute advantage The ability of an individual, firm, or country to produce more of a good or service than competitors using the same amount of resources.

Comparative advantage The ability of an individual, firm, or country to produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than other producers.

Opportunity cost of picking 1 pound of apples

Opportunity cost of picking 1 pound of cherries

You 1 pound of cherries 1 pound of apples

Your neighbor 2 pounds of cherries .5 pound of apples

Don’t Confuse Absolute Advantage and Comparative Advantage

TradeComparative Advantage and the Gains from Trade

The basis for trade is comparative advantage, not absolute advantage.

A country has a comparative advantage in the production of the good for which it has a lower opportunity cost.

To enjoy the gains from trade, a country should specialize in the production of the good for which it has a comparative advantage.

The Market System

LEARNING OBJECTIVE3

Market A group of buyers and sellers of a good or service and the institution or arrangement by which they come together to trade.

Product Markets Markets for good—such as computers—and services—such as medical treatment.

Factor markets Markets for the factors of production, such as labor, capital, natural resources, and entrepreneurial ability.

EXTRA CREDIT #2EXTRA CREDIT #2 Watch, or read the text of, the State of the Union

address – NOW scheduled for Wed., Jan. 27.

Email a 50-100 word summary of the MICROeconomic issues – as an attachment or in the email itself, to marilyn.spencer@tamucc.edu BEFORE CLASS, February 2.

4 points possible

Quiz #3Quiz #3 Be prepared for the in-class quiz on

Thursday!

It will consist of 4 multiple choice questions, from Chapter 2 & Chapter 3.

Bonus Extra Credit: Bonus Extra Credit: 4 points possible4 points possible

Attend this semester’s first regular meeting of the Student Economics Association, this Thursday, 7 p.m., in the UC’s Lonestar Ballroom C.

Email a 50-100 word summary of the discussion on unemployment, to marilyn.spencer@tamucc.edu before class the following Thursday, Feb. 4.

The Market System

The Circular-Flow Diagram

2 - 6The Circular-Flow Diagram

Households and firms are linked together in a circular flow of production, income, and spending.

Circular-flow diagram A model that illustrates how participants in markets are linked.

The Market SystemThe Circular Flow Diagram

Two key groups participate in markets:

A household is all the individuals in a home.

Firms are suppliers of goods and services.

The Market SystemThe Gains from Free Markets

Free market A market with few government restrictions on how a good or service can be produced or sold, or on how a factor of production can be employed.

The Market MechanismIndividuals usually act in a rational, self-interested way. Adam Smith understood that people’s motives can be complex.

In a famous phrase, Smith said that firms would be led by the “invisible hand” of the market to provide consumers with what they wanted.

The Market SystemThe Role of the Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Someone who operates a business, bringing together the factors of production—labor, capital, and natural resources—in order to produce goods and services.

The market coordinates the activities of the many people spread around the world who contribute to the making of a pencil.

Story of the Market System in Action: “I, Pencil”

2 - 2

The Market SystemThe Legal Basis of a Successful Market System

Property rights The rights individuals or firms have to the exclusive use of their property, including the right to buy or sell it.

PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

Metallica sued to stop copyright infringement of their songs on the Internet.

Property Right in Cyberspace: Napster, Kazaa, iTunes

2 - 3

Review Positive v. normative analysis Role of assumptions Circular-Flow Model Production Possibilities Frontier

Trade-offs

Known amount of resources

Given level of technology

Changes in the amount of resources or technology

Review, continued Definitions:

free marketentrepreneurproperty rights

Reminder: Quiz 1Before class Thursday, January 28, send me an email from

the email address you’ll be using regularly during this course.

My email address is marilyn.spencer@tamucc.edu.

4 points

Questions?

Reality check, to be completed before class January 28: Read Chapter 3 introduction and major topic headings.

Read Review Questions #1 “In a market system, who ultimately decides which goods and services will be produced? And also p. 92, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4; p. 93, 2.2; p. 94, 3.1, 3.2, and also: What happens to the equilibrium price in a market if the demand curve shifts to the right? Draw a demand and supply graph to illustrate your answer. (1st edition: 1-8 on pp. 90-91).

Read Problems and Applications: Is it possible for a good to be an inferior good for one person and a normal good for another? If yes, cite some examples, and p. 92, 1.7; p. 93, 2.3; p. 96, 4.15 (1st edition: 3, 4, 7, 14 & 21 on pp. 91-93).