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perfect knowledge
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knowledge about prices, substitutes, etc
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perfect competition
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man small firms, virtually identical products, no firm has control over price
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homogenous products
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perfectly substitutable goods
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budget constraint
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limits imposed on household choices by income, wealth, product prices
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choice set
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options limited/defined by budget constraint
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real income
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set of opportunities to purchase real goods/ services available to a household as determined by prices and money income
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utility
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satisfaction a product yields
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marginal utility
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additional satisfaction gained by the consumption or use of one more unit of a good/service
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total utility
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amount of satisfaction obtained from consumption of a good/service
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law of diminishing marginal utility
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the more consumed in a given period, the less satisfaction from each additional unit
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utility-maximizing rul
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equating the ratio of the marginal utility of a good to its price for all goods
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diamond/water paradox
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things w greatest value in use have little value in exchange; vice versa
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income effect
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change in consumption of x due to improvement of being is called the income effect of a price change
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substitution effect
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fall in price of product x might cause a household to shift its purchasing pattern to product x
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labor supply curve
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supply of labor @ various wage rates
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financial capital market
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complex set of institutions in which suppliers of capital and the demand for capital interact
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3 decisions firms must make
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how much output to supply, how to produce it, how much of each input to demand
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profit
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tr-tc
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normal rate of return
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just sufficient to keep owners and investors satisfied, nearly the same as interest rate on risk-free govt bonds
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short run
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fixed scale, no entry or exit
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long run
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no fixed factors of production
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production technology
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quantitative relationship between inputs and outputs
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labor-intensive technology
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human labor more than capital
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capital-intensive technology
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heavily relies on capital not labor
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production function/ total product function
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numberical/mathmatical expression of a relationship between inputs and outputs
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marginal product
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additional output tat can be produced by adding one more unit of a specific input
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law of diminishing returns
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when additional units of a variable input are added to fixed inputs aftera certain point the marginal product of the variable input declines
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average product
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avg amount produced by each variable factor of production
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fixed costs
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paid regardless of output
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variable costs
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depend on output
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total cost
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TFC + TVC
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Average fixed cost
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TFC/q
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spreading over head
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avg fixed cost drops
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average variable cost
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TVC/q
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total revenue
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p x q
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marginal revenue
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p*=d=MR
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shutdown point
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lowest point on AVC curve, firms will shut down in SR below that point
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sr industry supply curve
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sum of individual supply curves in short run
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increasing returns to scale
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increase in a firm's scale of production leads to lower cost per unit produced
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constant returns to scale
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increase in a firm's scale of production has no effect on costs per unit produced
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decreasing returns to scale
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increase in a firm's sclae of production leads to higher cost per unit produced
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LR average cost curve
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envelope of a series of short run cost curves
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minimum efficient scale
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smalles size at which the long-run average cost curve is at its minimum
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optimal scale of plant
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scale that minimizes average cost
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long-run competitive equilibrium
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when p=srmc=srac=lrac
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derived demand
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demand for inputs depends on demand for products they produce
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productivity of an input
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the amount of output produced per unit of that input
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marginal product of labor
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additional output produced by 1 additional unit of labor
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marginal revenue product
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mpl x p ; the additional revenue a firm earns by employing 1 additional unit of input
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output effect of a factor price increase/decrease
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when a firm decreases/increases its output in response toa factor increase/decrease this decreases/increases demand for all factors
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demand-determined price
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price ofa good in fixed supply i.e. land
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pure rent
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return to any factor of production that is in fixed supply
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physical/tangible capital
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1. nonresidential structures 2. durable equipment 3. residential structures 4. inventories of inputs and outputs that firms have in stock
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social capital
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infrastructure, services to public
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intangible capital
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goodwill
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human capital
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form of intangible capital, includes skills and other knowledge workers need
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capital stock
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for a single firm the current market value of hte firm's plant, equipment, inventories, and tangible assets
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investment
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flow that increases the stock of capital
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depreciation
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the decline in an asset's economic value over time
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capital market
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the market in which households supply their savings to firms that demand funds to buy capital goods
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bond
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contract bw a borrower and a lender in which the borrower agrees to pay the loan in the future along w interest
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capital income
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earned on savings that have been put to use through financial capital markets
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interest
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payments made for the use of money
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interest rate
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interest payments expressed as a percentage of the loan
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stock
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a share of stock is an ownership claim on a firm, entitling its owner to a profit share
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expected rate of return
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annual rate of return that a firm expects to obtain through capital investment
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partial equilibrium analysis
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process of examining the equilibrium conditions in individual markets for households and firms separately
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general equillibrium
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condition that exists when all markets in an economy are in simultaneous equilibrium
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efficiency
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condition in which the economy is producing what people want at least possible cost
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pareto efficiency
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a condition which no change is possible that will make someone better without making someone else worse off
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market failure
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occurs when resources are misallocated. 1. noncompetitive behavior 2. public goods 3. externalities 4. imperfect info
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public goods
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goods/services that bestow collective benefits on members of society; generally no one can be excluded from their benefits. ie national defense
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externality
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cost or benefit imposed or bestowed on an individual or a group that is outside, external to, the transaction
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imperfect info
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absence of full knowledge concerning product characteristics, available prices, and so on