basic concepts

Economics

This a social science which studies human behavior in relation to ends and scarce means which have alternate uses. It studies how humans and society use their scarce resources to produce goods and services to satisfy human wants

Why is Economics a social science

Economics is a social science which because human behavior cannot be controlled in a lab or predicted completely accurately. It is a science because scientific method is used to make theories on human behavior

Economy

This is a system which describes how economic activities work in a society. E.g developed economy, Nigerian economy

Economic

This is all activities involved from the point of production to consumption e.g transportation, exchange, distribution

Basic concept of economics

Scarcity: this occurs when an economy does not generate enough goods and services to satisfy all human wants

Choice: this is occurs when there is scarcity and forgoing one thing in favor of another

Opportunity cost: this is the forgone value of the next best alternative that was not chosen

Scale of preference: this is list which contains wants to be satisfied in order of priority

Goods: these are physical tangible things used to satsisfy human wants

Services: this is work performed to satisfy human wants in exchange for money

Economic resources/means of production

Land: these are all natural resources used to produce foods and services e.g arable land, forestry, crude oil

capital : this is man made resources used to produce other goods and services e.g machinery

Labour : this is human effort of workers to produce goods and services

Entrepreneurship: this is the ability to recognize business opportunities and combine the other three economic resources to produce goods and services

Why economic problems persist

Unlimited wants

Limited resources

4 economic questions

What to produce: Goods and services that make profit should be produced

How to produce: affordable and efficient methods should be used

Where to produce: production should occur close to location of resources

For whom to produce: the target market you are producing for

Branches of Economics

Micro economics: this is concerned with individual units. Individuals, firms and industries.

Macro economics: this is concerned with economy or societ as a whole

Why we study economics

To make efficient use of scarce resources to produce goods and services

Labor union

A group of people who produce goods and services. E.g Nigerian Teachers Association

Specializations in economics

Agricultural economics

Health economics

Monetary economics

Financial economics

Public economics

Gas and energy economics