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Why do indifference curves slope downward?
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Buyers face trade-offs
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Why are indifference curves convex to the origin?
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Buyers are more willing to give up goods they have in higher quantity
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What does the slope at any point of the indifference curve represent?
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The marginal rate of substitution
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What is constant along any indifference curve?
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Utility
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What is consumer equilibrium?
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when utility is maximized. Point where indifference curve is tangent to budget constraint
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Formula for Budget Line
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I = PxX + PyY
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Formula for slope of budget constraint
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Px/Py
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What does optimal point signify mathematically?
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MRSx,y = MUx/MUy = Px/Py
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Bang for your buck equation
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MUx/Px = MUy/Py
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What are the variables that influence consumer choice?
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Income & Price Changes
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What does Income do to the budget constraint?
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parallel shift
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What does price changes do to the budget constraint?
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Pivot, relative price changes for one good
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What is the income effect?
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if the price goes down for a product, the purchasing power increases for consumers, allowing them to purchase more (shift of indifference curve)
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What is the substitution effect?
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when consumers react to an increase in a good's price by consuming less of that good and more of a substitute good (shift along indifferent curve)
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What is a normal good
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When substitution and income effect move in the same direction
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What is an inferior good?
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Substitution and Income effect move in different directions but substitution>income
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What is a Giffen good?
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Type of inferior good when income effect>substitution effect
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Elasticity
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a measure of the responsiveness of quantity demanded or quantity supplied to a change in one of its determinants
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price elasticity of demand
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a measure of how much the quantity demanded of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, computed as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price
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price elasticity of supply
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a measure of how much the quantity supplied of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, computed as the percentage change in quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in price
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Mid point formula
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((Q1-Q2)/((Q1+Q2)/2)/((P1-P2)/(P1+P2)/2)
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What does a flat demand curve mean?
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A greater price elasticity of demand
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total revenue
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Price x Quantity
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inelastic demand
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Price increase = total revenue increase
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elastic demand
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price increase = total revenue decrease
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cross-price elasticity of demand
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% change in quantity of A demanded / % change in price of B
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substitute
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positive cross price elasticity
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complements
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negative cross price elasticity
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Four Properties of Indifference Curves
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1. Higher indifference curves are preferred to lower ones
2. Indifference curves are downward sloping
3. Indifference curves do not cross
4. Indifference curves are bowed inward
2. Indifference curves are downward sloping
3. Indifference curves do not cross
4. Indifference curves are bowed inward
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relative price
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the rate at which the market is willing to trade one good for the other
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diminishing marginal utility
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Decreasing satisfaction or usefulness as additional units of a product are acquired
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total revenue (firm)
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the amount a firm receives for the sale of its output
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total cost
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the market value of the inputs a firm uses in production
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profit
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total revenue minus total cost
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explicit costs
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input costs that require an outlay of money by the firm
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implicit costs
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input costs that do not require an outlay of money by the firm
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economic profit
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total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs
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accounting profit
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total revenue minus total explicit cost
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production function
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the relationship between quantity of inputs used to make a good and the quantity of output of that good
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marginal product
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the increase in output that arises from an additional unit of input
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diminishing marginal product
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the property whereby the marginal product of an input declines as the quantity of the input increases
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fixed costs
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Costs that do not vary with the quantity of output produced
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variable costs
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costs that vary with the quantity of output produced
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average total cost
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total cost divided by the quantity of output
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average fixed cost
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fixed cost divided by the quantity of output
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average variable cost
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variable cost divided by the quantity of output
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marginal cost
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the increase in total cost that arises from an extra unit of production
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marginal cost equation
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change in total cost / change in quantity
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Rising Marginal Cost
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when Q is high, marginal product of an extra unit of input is low and marginal cost is high
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Average fixed cost characteristic
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always declines as output rises because the fixed cost is getting spread over a larger number of units
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average variable cost characteristic
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usually rises as output increases because of diminishing marginal product
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average total cost falls when
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marginal cost < average total cost
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average total cost rises when
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marginal cost > average total cost
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The MC curve crosses the ATC curve
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at the minimum
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Properties of decisions behind supply
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MC eventually rises with the Q output, ATC curve is U-shaped, MC curve crosses the ATC curve at the minimum of ATC
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ATC curve is U-shaped because
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Because it takes its shape from the AVC curve, with the upturn reflecting the onset of diminishing returns to the variable factor.
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economies of scale
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the property whereby long-run average total cost falls as the quantity of output increases
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diseconomies of scale
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the property whereby long-run average total cost rises as the quantity of output increases
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constant returns to scale
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the property whereby long-run average total cost stays the same as the quantity of output changes
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average product
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the average amount produced by each unit of a variable factor of production