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Scarcity
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Unlimited wants and needs, combined with limited resources.
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Controlled Economy
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The government answers the three economic questions.
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Free Economy
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Also known as market economy, resources are owned by individuals rather than the government.
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Mixed Economy
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Some goods and services are provided by the government and some by private enterprise.
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Private Enterprise
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Based on independent decisions by businesses and consumers with only a limited government role regulating those relationships.
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Profit Motive
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The use of resources to obtain the greatest profit.
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Value
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Individual view of the worth of a product or service.
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Demand
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A relationship between the quantity of a product consumers are willing and able to purchase and the price.
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Law of Supply
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A relationship between the quantity of a product that produces are willing and able to provide and the price.
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Macroeconomics
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Studies the economic behavior and relationships of an entire society.
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Microeconomics
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Examines relationships between individual consumers and producers.
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Demand Curve
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The relationship between price and the quantity demanded is often illustrated in a graph.
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Law of Demand
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When the price of a product is increased, less will be demanded. When the price is decreased, more will be demanded.
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Market
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an abstract concept encompassing the forces of supply and demand and the interaction between buyers and sellers.
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Economic Resources
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Classified as natural resources, capital, equipment, and labor.
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Supply Curve
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The graph of a relationship between price and quantity supplied.
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Law of Supply
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As the price increases, more will be manufactured. As the price decreases, fewer will be manufactured.
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Market Price
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The point where supply and demand for a product are equal.
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Pure Competition
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Because the suppliers are unable to offer products that consumers view as unique, they must accept the prices the consumers will buy from another business. Many suppliers offer very similar products.
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Monopoly
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A type of market in which one supplier offers a unique profit.
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Oligopoly
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A few businesses offer very similar products or services.
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Economic Utility
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The amount of satisfaction a consumer receives from the consumption of a particular product or service.
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scarcity
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prevents us from being able to completely fulfill our desires
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rationing
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allocating a limited supply of a good or resource among people who want more of it. when price performs the rationing function, those willing to give up the most receive the good.
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capital
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human made resources
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economic theory
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establishes reference points through definitions, postulates, and principles making cause and effect relationships.
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opportunity cost
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highest valued alternative sacrificed when choosing in an option (like time).
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economizing behavior
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choosing option that offers greatest benefit, resulting in purposeful or rational decision making
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utility
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the subjective benefit or satisfaction that an individual expects from the choice of a specific alternative
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marginal
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when making a choice between 2 alternatives individuals focus on the difference in costs and benefits between alternatives
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secondary effects
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effects that may not be seen immediately (unintended consequences)
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scientific thinking
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developing a theory from basic principles and testing it against the real world
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positive economics
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attempts to determine "what is" among economic relationships
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normative economics
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judgments about "what ought to be" in economic matters. based on value judgments.
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ceteris paribus
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Latin term meaning "other things constant"
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fallacy of composition
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erroneous view that that what is true for an individual is also true for the whole or group
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microeconomics
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focuses on decision making of consumers, producers, and resource suppliers operating at a narrowly defined market
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macroeconomics
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focuses on how the aggregation of individual micro-units affects our analysis and is concerned with prices, incentives, and outputs
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the law of demand
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there is an inverse relationship between the price of a good or service and the quantity of it that consumers are willing to purchase
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change in demand
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shift in entire demand curve
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change in quantity demanded
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movement along the demand curve
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opportunity cost of production
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sum of producers cost of each resource used to produce a good.
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law of supply
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there is a direct relationship between the price of a good or service and the amount of it that suppliers are willing to produce which means the price and quantity producers wish to supply move in the same direction
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equilibrium
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state in which conflicting forces of demand and supply are in balance
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economic efficiency
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all potential gains from trade have been realized. Benefit>Cost
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efficiency of market organization is based upon
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1. competitive markets 2. well-defined and enforced private-property rights
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resource
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inputs used to produce goods and services
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tax incidence
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method of distributing the burden of a tax. When taxes are imposed on sellers, buyers may have the burden if sellers simply raise prices.
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tax rate
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per-unit amount of tax percentage rate at which the economic activity is taxed
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who bears the tax weight when demand is relatively inelastic/supply is relatively elastic?
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buyers bear larger tax burden
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average tax rate
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tax liability divided by taxable income (percentage)
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progressive tax
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average tax rate rises with income
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proportional tax
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average tax rate is the same at all income levels
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marginal tax rate
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percentage of a dollar of income earned that must be paid in taxes
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laffer curve
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illustrates the relationship between tax rate and revenues. The more an activity like production is taxed, the less revenue is generated as people shy away from the high taxed activity.
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subsidy
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payment either to the buyer or seller of a good/service usually a per-unit basis
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the law of diminishing marginal utility
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as consumption of a product increases the marginal utility will slowly decline
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marginal utility
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additional utility or satisfaction derived from consuming an additional unit of a good
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marginal benefit
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maximum price a consumer is willing to pay for an additional unit of a product
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inelastic demand creates this type of demand curve
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steep, change in Price doe not dramatically affect quantity demanded
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elastic demand creates this type of demand curve
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flat, changes in price affect demand
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normal good
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as income increases, so does the price of goods
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inferior good
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as consumer income rises the demand for the good falls
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residual claimants
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individuals who personally receive the excess, if any, revenue
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team production
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employees work together under the supervision of owner or owner's representative
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implicit costs
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opportunity costs associated with a firm's use of resources that it owns
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total cost
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explicit and implicit costs added
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opportunity cost of equity capital
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rate of return that must be earned by investors to encourage them to supply financial capital to the firm
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economic profit
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difference between firm's total revenues and its total costs (including explicit and implicit)
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normal profit rate
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zero economic profit, providing just the competitive rate of return on the capital (and labor) of owners, drawing more entry into the market
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accounting profits
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sales revenue minus expenses of a firm over a designated time period, usually 1 year
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total fixed costs
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sum of costs that don't vary with output
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average fixed cost
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total fixed cost divided by number of units produced
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average total cost
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total cost divided by number of units produced
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marginal cost
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change in total cost required to produce an additional unit
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law of diminishing returns
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as more and more units of a variable factor are applied to a fixed amount of other resources output will eventually increase by smaller and smaller amounts (constraint imposed by nature)
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marginal product
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increase in total product resulting from a unit increase in the employment of a variable input
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economies of scale
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reductions in the firm's per-unit costs associated with the use of large plants to produce a large volume of output
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objective
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non-opinion fact based concept about a situation. Scarcity is objective
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Subjective
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an opinion based on personal preferences and value judgement. Poverty is subjective.
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Substitutes
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Products that serve similar purposes. An increase in price in one will cause an increase in demand for the other. (tacos and hamburgers)
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Consumer Surplus
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Difference between the maximum price consumers are willing o pay and the price they actually pay. net gain for buyers of a good.
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Complements
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Products consumed jointly, bread and butter.
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Factors that Change Quantity demanded
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Changed price of a good
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Factors that change demand
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Consumer income, Number of consumers, price of substitute or complement, demographic changes, consumer preferance
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Loss
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a deficit of sales revenue relative to opportunity cost
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Producer Surplus
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the difference in what a producer is wiling to receive and what they actually receive.
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factors that change Quantity Supplied vs Supply
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QS=Change in price of good. S+resource prices, tech advancement, weather/ taxes
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Invisible Hand Principle
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tendency of market prices to direct individuals pursuing their own interests to engage in promoting economic well-being of society
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resource market
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Market of inputs used to promote goods and services
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Price controls
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Gov mandated prices that are imposed on form of max or min price
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price ceiling
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legal max price sellers can charge. (lack market grows, future supply decreases,quality deteriorates, Subjective nonprice factors play more of a role.
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shortage
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demand of a good at the market price is greater than supply. An increase in price would eliminate shortage
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Price floor
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Legal min price
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Surplus
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Condition which amount of good offered is greater than amount buyers will purchase. Declined price will fix this.
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Minimum wage
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Legislative mandate for workers min pay. Jobs available will shrink usually for unskilled workers
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Black market
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Market outside of legal system of illegal goods or legal goods sold at illegal prices or terms
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tax base
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Level or quantity of an economic activity that is taxed. Higher tax rates decreases tax base as the activity is less attractive
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Deadweight loss/excess burden of taxation
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loss of gains from trade due to taxes being imposed.
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regressive tax
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Tax where average tax rate falls with income.