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scarcity
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having a limited quantity of resources to meet unlimited wants
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opportunity cost
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the highest valued alternative that must be given up to engage in an activity
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economic way of thinking
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A way of looking at, and analyzing, the way the world works by comparing the costs of an action with the benefits generated.
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TINSTAAFL
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There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
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normative economics
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analysis that prescribes what an individual or society ought to do
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positive economics
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A way of describing and explaining economics as it is, not as it should be.
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economic incentives
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economists assume that the only reason people take the actions they do is in response to this
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economic systems
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The methods societies use to distribute resources
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voluntary trade
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The act of buyers and sellers freely and willingly engaged in trade.
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marginal thinking
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evaluate whether the benefit of one more unit of something is greater than the cost
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marginal costs
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the extra cost of producing one more unit of output
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marginal benefits
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measures the advantages of producing one additional unit of a good or service.
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goods
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Physical objects such as clothes or shoes
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services
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activities that are consumed at the same time they are produced
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secondary effects
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any unintended consequence of an economic decision
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trade-offs
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Alternative choices
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explicit costs
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costs that require a firm to spend money
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implicit costs
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the value of economic resources that could be used elsewhere
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absolute advantage
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What a person, group, business or country can do better than anyone else.
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comparative advantage
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The advantage a person, nation, etc. has by producing an item at a lower opportunity cost than another person or nation.
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specialization
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the development of skills in a specific kind of work
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exchange
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The process of trading one good/service for another
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input method
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provides data on the amount of resources needed to produce one unit of output
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output method
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gives data on the amount of output that can be produced with a given amount of an input