| A | B |
|---|
| economics | body of knowledge that relates to producing and using goods and services that satisfy human wants |
| economic wants | desire for scarce material goods and services |
| non-economic wants | desired wants that are not scarce |
| utility | ability of a good or service to satisfy a want |
| producer | anyone who aids in creating a utility |
| factors of production | four basic resources that are combined to create useful goods and services |
| natural resources | anything provided by nature that affects the productive ability of a country |
| labor | human effort, either physical or mental, that goes into the production of goods and services |
| human capital | accumulated knowledge and skills of human beings |
| capital goods | buildings, tools, machines, and other equipment that are used to produce other goods but do not directly satisfy human wants |
| capital formation | production of capital goods |
| consumer goods and services | goods and services that satisfy people's economic wants directly |
| economic system | organized way for a country to decide how to use its productive resources |
| market economy | economic system that determines what, how, and for whom goods and services are produced by individual choices |
| command economy | economic system in which the method for determing what, how, and for whom goods and services are produced is decided by a central planning authority |
| mixed economy | economic system in which a combo of a market and command economy is blended together to make decisions about what, how, and for whom goods and services are produced |
| privatization | when a state or country tranfers its authority to provide a good or service to individuals or businesses |
| captialism | economic-political system in which private citizens are free to go into business for themselves, to produce whatever they choose to produce, and to distribute what they produce, and to distribute what they produce as they please |
| socialism | economic-political system in which the government controls and regulates the means of production |
| communism | forced socialism where all or almost all the productive resources of a nation are owned by the government |
| private property | items of value that individuals can own, use, and sell |
| profit | incentive, as well as the reward, for producing goods and services |
| demand | number of similar products that will be bought at a given time at a given price |
| supply | number of similar products that will be offered for sale at a particular time and at a particular price |
| competition | rivalry among sellers for consumers' dollars |
| economic growth | occurs when a country's output exceeds its population growth |
| Consumer Price Index (CPI) | measure of the average change in prices of consumer goods and services typically purchased by people living in urban areas |
| recession | decline in the GDP that continues for six months or more |
| inflation | rapid rise in prices caused by an inadequate supply of goods and services |
| business cycles | pattern of irregular but repeated expansion and contraction of the GDP |
| depression | a long and severe drop in the GDP |
