Essentials of Economics – Key Concepts (Mankiw 9th Ed.)

Fill-in-the-blank flashcards covering core concepts from the provided lecture notes.

The term 'economics' comes from the Greek word 'oikonomos,' which means __.

one who manages a household

Capitalist Economics is the study of __ decisions to allocate resources; Socialist Economics is the study of allocation of resources and goods by the government.

individuals making voluntary decisions

Societies are generally some mixture of capitalist and socialist systems; a __ Economy.

Mixed

Economics comprises three sectors: __, Production and Government.

Household

Every sector faces changes of budget __.

constraint

Households— work, buy, save, invest to maximize __.

utility

Producers— employ, produce, sell to maximize __.

profit

The branch of economics that studies the economy as a whole, and how individual decisions aggregate, is called __.

macroeconomics

Principle 1: People Face __.

Trade-offs

Principle 2: The Cost of Something Is What You __ Up to Get It.

Give Up

Principle 3: Rational People Think at the __.

margin

Principle 4: People Respond to __.

incentives

Principle 5: Trade Can Make Everyone __ Off.

Better

Principle 6: Markets Are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic __.

Activity

Principle 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market __.

Outcomes

Principle 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods and __.

Services

Principle 9: Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too Much __.

Money

Principle 10: Society Faces a Short-Run Trade-off between and .

Inflation and Unemployment

A good is scarce if more of it would make at least someone __ off.

better

When a good is scarce, people face a trade-off; this is the source of all __.

trade-offs

There aren’t no such thing as a free lunch; getting something without giving up anything is called __.

Charity

Public policy is government behaving like an individual; Whether a given situation is best solved individually Or publicly is sometimes a matter of __.

efficiency

Public policy trade-offs: Efficiency and __.

Equality

Where supply equals demand, the intersection determines the market __.

price

Guard against externalities; situations where the market is prevented from working by outside factors that are hard to price (e.g.—pollution) are called __.

externalities