Economic Resources

There are three: Natural Resources, Labour, and Capital Equipment.

Inputs

Another name for "Economic Resources" - Natural Resources, Labour, and Capital Equipment

Labour

The largest single productive input available to any economy, it includes all the productive talents of the people of a society, mental as well as physical.

Capital Equipment

The tools, equipment, machinery, and factories used to increase production per worker

Productivity

Output per worker per hour; one measure of efficiency

Standard of Living

A measure of the economic prosperity of a people of a society, usually expressed in terms of the value of goods and services consumed per person per year.

Natural Resources

The short form for this term is "land" and are the resources available to a society economy as economic inputs that come from the land.

Economic outputs

The goods and services produced by a society using its productive inputs.

Scarcity

The problem that, while economic inputs are limited in availability, people's wants and needs are unlimited.

Effectiveness

A measure of how well an economy performs in terms of producing goods and services that meet the needs and wants of people.

Efficiency

A measure of how well an economy performs in terms of producing high volumes of goods and services at a low cost per item.

Opportunity Cost

The concept that the real economic cost of producing something is the forgone opportunity to produce something else that could have been produced with the same inputs.

Three Basic Question of Economics

What to produce? How to produce it? Who gets how much?

Consumer Goods

Goods produced for present consumption and are used up quickly.

Capital Goods

Things that help produce other valuable goods and services in the future. They are not "used up" today but they will increase productive efficiency.

Market System

An economic system in which economic decisions are made in a decentralized manner mainly by consumers and privately owned businesses.

Market

It is where buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods and services.

Profits

They are funds left from a business's sales revenues after all expenses have been paid.

Recession

A period when the economy is producing considerably less than its potential output, and unemployment is high. Formally defines as two consecutive quarters (six months) of declining output.

Private Sector

This is businesses and producers that are privately owned and make up about 80% of Canada's economy.

Government Sector

In this sector, the key economic decisions are made by governments and in Canada makes up about 20% of the annual output of the economy.

Subsidies

Government financial assistance to a firm or industry, through grants, loans or reduced taxes.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of new goods and services produced in a country in one year.

Macroeconomics

The study of the economy as a whole, including inflation, unemployment, and economic growth

Microeconomics

The study of a single factor of an economy - such as individuals, households, businesses, specific markets, & industries - rather than an economy as a whole.

Aggregate Demand

The amount of goods and services in the economy that will be purchased at all possible price levels

Supply Side of a Market

It is the side of a market system where seller compete to make sales.

Demand Side of a Market

It is the side of a market system where buyers compete to acquire goods and services at a reasonable rate.

Economic Boom

It is high levels of output and employment in the economy as a whole.

Inflation

It is an increase in the general level of the prices of goods and services.

Capacity Output

It is the maximum amount of output the economy can produce without generating excessively rapid increase in production costs and prices.

Full Employment

It is the lowest rate of unemployment that can be achieved without generating unacceptable inflation in the economy.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

It is an index of the cost of all goods and services to a typical consumer. It measures changes in the price level of a market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.

GDP Calculation

It is Consumption + Investment + Government + Net Exports (the total value of all Canadian exports - the total value of all imports) ... C+I+G+(X-M)

Consumption

It is a category of the GDP that consists of all consumer goods and services purchased by households.

Investment

As part of the GDP, it includes all additions to society's stock of privately owned capital equipment, buildings, and inventories of products.

Net Exports

It is the part of the GDP that is the total value of all Canadian exports (X) minus the total value of all imports (M); X-M

Real Income

It is the purchasing power of income; income that is adjusted for prices changes, and implies the actual buying power of a consumer

Money GDP

GDP in current dollar terms; that is, including any price increases due to inflation

Real GDP

GDP statistic that have been adjusted to eliminate the effects of price increases, the result of being a statistic that measure only changes in real output of an economy; GDP adjusted for inflation

Rate of Inflation

The annual % rate of change in the price level, as measured, for example, by the CPI.

Free Enterprise System

Market economy in which privately owned businesses have the freedom to operate for a profit with limited government intervention

Command Economic System

Economic system in which the *government controls the economy*. The state decides how to use and distribute resources, regulates prices and wages, and may even determine what sorts of work individuals do.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private property and free enterprise.

Mixed Economic System

Economic system that *combines elements of the market and command economy*. Many economic decisions are made in the market by individuals but the government also plays a role in the allocation and distribution of resources.

Economics

The study of people and the choices they make.

Economic Incentive

Reward for engaging in a specific economic activity

Specialization

It is the concentration of the productive efforts of individuals and businesses on a limited number of activities to improve productivity

Law of Demand

If the price goes up, people will buy less and if the price goes down, people will want more.

Law of Supply

If the price goes up, the producer will want to make more and if the price goes down, the producer will want to sell less.

Shortage

It is a mismatch because there is a high demand but a low supply.

Surplus

A situation in which the quantity supplied is greater than the quantity demanded

GDP per capita

Gross domestic product divided by the number of people in the population.

Technology (in Economic terms)

It is the ways you combine labour and capital to be for productive.

Depression (in Economic terms)

It is a severe recession.

Unemployment Rate

It is the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed

Discouraged Worker

People who are available for work but have not looked for a job during the previous four weeks because they believe no jobs are available for them.

Natural Rate of Unemployment

It is the normal rate of unemployment around which the unemployment rate fluctuates

Frictional Unemployment

A type of unemployment caused by workers voluntarily changing jobs and by temporary layoffs; unemployed workers between jobs.

Structural Unemployment

A type of unemployment caused by a fundamental change in the economy that reduces the demand for some workers

Cyclical Unemployment

A type of unemployment that rises during economic downturns and falls when the economy improves