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budget constraint
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shows the possible combinations of two goods that are affordable given a consumers limited income
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total utility
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satisfaction derived from consumer choices
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marginal utility
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the additional utility provided by one additional unit of consumption
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diminishing marginal utility
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the common pattern that each marginal unit of a good consumed provides less of an addition to utility than the previous unit
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marginal utility per dollar
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the additional satisfaction gained from purchasing a good given the price of the product; MU/Price
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substituion effect
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when a price changes, consumers have an incentive to consume less of the good with a relatively higher price and more of the good with a relatively lower price; always happens simultaneously with an income effect
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income effect
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a higher price means that, in effect, the buying power of income has been reduced, even though actual income has not changed; always happens simultaneously with a substitution effect
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fungible
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units of a good are capable of mutual substitution with each other and carry equal value to the individual
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behavioral economics
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the study of situations in which people make choices that do not appear to be economically rational
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firm
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an organization that uses resources to produce a product, which it then sells
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private enterprise
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the ownership of businesses by private individuals
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production
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the process of combining inputs to produce outputs, ideally of a value greater than the value of the inputs
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revenue
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the income a firm generates from selling its products
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explicit costs
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out-of-pocket costs for a firm, for example, payments for wages and salaries, rent, or materials
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implicit costs
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the opportunity costs of the resources supplied by the firm's owners
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accounting profit
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the difference between dollars brought in and dollars paid out
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economic profit
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includes both explicit and implicit costs
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economic profit equals
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total revenue - total cost
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Total costs equals
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explicit costs + implicit costs
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factors of production (inputs)
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resources that firms use to produce their products, for example, labor and capital
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production function
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mathematical equation that tells how much output a firm can produce with given amounts of the inputs
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fixed inputs
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factors of production that can't be easily increased or decreased in a short period of time
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variable inputs
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factors of production that a firm can easily increase or decrease in a short period of time
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short run
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the period of time during which at least one of a firm's inputs is fixed
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long run
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period of time during which all of a firm's inputs are variable
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marginal product
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The additional output that can be produced by adding one more unit of a specific input, ceteris paribus.
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law of diminishing marginal productivity
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general rule that as a firm employs more labor, eventually the amount of additional output produced declines
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factor payments
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what the firm pays for the use of factors of production
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variable costs
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costs of the variable inputs, like labor
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fixed costs
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costs of the fixed inputs, like rent
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total costs
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the sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level of production
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Average Total Cost (ATC)
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total costs divided by quantity of output
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marginal cost
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the additional cost to a firm of producing one more unit of a good or service
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Average Variable Cost (AVC)
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variable cost divided by the quantity of output
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average profit (profit margin)
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price - average cost
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production technologies
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alternative methods of combining inputs to produce output
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economies of scale
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a situation in which the average cost of production falls as the firm gets larger
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long-run average cost curve
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shows the lowest cost at which a firm is able to produce a given quantity of output in the long run, when no inputs are fixed
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short-run average cost (SRAC) curve
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the average total cost curve in the short term; shows the total of the average fixed costs and the average variable costs
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constant returns to scale
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when expanding all inputs does not change the average cost of production
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diseconomies of scale
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the long-run average cost of producing each individual unit increases as total output increases
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market structure
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the conditions in an industry, such as number of sellers, how easy or difficult it is for a new firm to enter, and the type of products that are sold
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perfect competition
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each firm faces many competitors that sell identical products
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price taker
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a firm that faces a given market price and whose quantity supplied has no effect on that price; a perfectly competitive firm
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Marginal Revenue (MR)
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the additional revenue gained from selling one more unit
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shutdown point
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the intersection of the average variable cost curve and the marginal cost curve, which shows the price where the firm would lack enough revenue to cover its variable costs
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entry
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when new firms enter the industry in response to increased industry profits
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exit
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the long-run process of firms reducing production and shutting down in response to industry losses
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long run equilibrium
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where all firms earn zero economic profits producing the output level where P = MR = MC and P = AC
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constant cost industry
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as demand increases, the cost of production for firms stays the same
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increasing cost industry
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as demand increases, the cost of production for firms increases
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decreasing cost industry
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as demand increases the costs of production for the firms decreases
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allocative efficiency
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means that among the points on the production possibility frontier, the chosen point is socially preferred