Economics and Geography Review Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions and concepts from the Grade 9 Economics and Geography textbooks.

Economics

A branch of social science that studies the efficient allocation of scarce resources so as to attain the maximum fulfillment of human needs.

Oikonomia

The ancient Greek word meaning the management of a family or a household, from which the term economics is derived.

Microeconomics

The branch of economics concerned with the economic behavior of individual decision-making units such as households, firms, and governments.

Macroeconomics

A branch of economics that deals with the effects and consequences of the aggregate behaviour of all decision-making units in an economy.

Positive Economics

A perspective of economic analysis that deals with knowledge and facts, attempting to describe the world as it is.

Normative Economics

A perspective of economic analysis that evaluates the desirability of outcomes based on value judgments (what the economy @@ought to be@@).

Scarcity

The fundamental economic problem reflecting the imbalance between human wants and the finite means available to satisfy those wants.

Opportunity Cost

The amount or value of the next best alternative that must be sacrificed (forgone) in order to obtain one more unit of a product.

Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF)

A curve showing the various possible combinations of goods and services that a society can produce given its resources and technology.

Economic System

A set of organizational and institutional arrangements established to answer the basic economic questions of what, how, and for whom to produce.

Factor Payments

The rewards for the services of production factors: wage for labour, rent for land, interest for capital, and profit for entrepreneurship.

Money

An economic unit that functions as a generally recognized and accepted medium of exchange for transactional purposes in an economy.

Inflation

A situation characterized by a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of currently produced final goods and services that are produced within a country's boundary during a given period of time.

Geography

The scientific study of the Earth that describes and analyses spatial and temporal variations of physical, biological, and human phenomena.

Eratosthenes

The famous Greek philosopher ($276-194\,B.C.$) who coined the term Geography and defined it as the field of study dealing with the description of the earth.

Absolute Location

The location of a place expressed in terms of astronomical grid references: latitudes and longitudes.

Precambrian Era

The oldest and longest geological era, covering about 5/6 of the earth's geological time, characterized by the formation of the basement complex rock.

Mesozoic Era

The era known for the predominance of reptiles and the formation of sedimentary rocks like Adigrat sandstone and Hintalo limestone in Ethiopia.

Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)

A low atmospheric pressure zone formed by the convergence of northeasterly and southeasterly trade winds that shifts following the overhead sun.

Agro-climatic Zones

Traditional temperature zones in Ethiopia defined by altitude, including Wurch, Dega, Woina Dega, Kolla, and Bereha.

Nithosols

Matured red basaltic soils with deep profiles that are the most widely cultivated soil type in Ethiopia, suited for coffee and cereals.

Population Pyramid

A graphic representation of the distribution of a population by age and sex, which in developing countries typically has a broad base.

Sex Ratio

A demographic measure expressed as the number of males per $100$ females in a population.

Primary Economic Activities

Activities that focus directly on the extraction of resources from the environment, such as agriculture, fishing, forestry, and mining.

Green Legacy Initiative

A government plan launched in 2019 aimed at a massive tree-planting campaign to curb the effects of climate change and deforestation in Ethiopia.

Cartography

The art and science of mapping and accurate map-making.