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What is Economics?

Who gets what, and why?

Master trade-offs, scarcity, and core economic questions.

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Introduction to Economics

Welcome to Economics—a social science that studies how individuals, firms, and societies decide to use scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. 

In this lesson, we explore trade-offs by weighing benefits against costs and examine key ideas like opportunity cost and marginal thinking. 

This introduction lays the groundwork for understanding topics such as demand, supply, competition, consumer behavior, and production methods, shaping everyday choices and market outcomes.

Scarcity

Scarcity is the fundamental concept in economics, explaining how finite resources—such as time, money, labor, and raw materials—contrast with virtually unlimited human wants and needs. 

This imbalance forces decisions to involve trade-offs since dedicating a resource to one use prevents its use for another. 

Each decision carries an opportunity cost, defined as the value of the best alternative forgone, making scarcity central to economic analysis and the allocation of resources. It drives real choices.

Central Economic Questions

Economics revolves around three core questions: what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. 

Finite resources force individuals, businesses, and governments to make choices among competing uses. 

The answers determine which goods and services are produced, the methods and technologies used in production, and how the resulting output is distributed among society. 

This framework guides efficient resource allocation in a dynamic economic environment.

Maya's Trade-Off

Meet Maya, a college student learning economics. 

With a weekly allowance of $40 and only 10 free hours, she faces a tough choice: spend $30 on a required textbook or invest $20 in a 3-hour study group session. 

This decision vividly illustrates scarcity, as her limited funds and time force trade-offs. 

The opportunity cost of buying the textbook is missing out on interactive study sessions, while joining means forgoing the textbook's comprehensive details.

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Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is defined as the value of the next best alternative that must be foregone when a decision is made, given limited resources. 

Because resources like time, money, and labor are finite, every choice involves sacrificing the benefits another option could provide. 

This concept emphasizes the trade-offs inherent in decision-making. 

Evaluating opportunity costs helps individuals, firms, and governments allocate resources efficiently to achieve maximum net benefit.

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