Why Economics?

Graphic showing the word decisionsVery simply, economics is the study of how people and businesses make decisions. Economists have been studying this for years and they have learned that people and businesses tend to behave a particular way based on certain circumstances. An example of how people’s behavior is predictable is: when you touch something hot, you pull your hand back and stop touching it! Economics can be used to understand why people save, borrow, and spend. Understanding why you do the things you do can help you make wise economic decisions.

Supply and DemandSupply and Demand

Why do prices for jeans from different companies go up and down at the same time? How come you can't find the the things everyone wants, but you can always find the things that no one wants. Watch this presentation to find out how supply and demand affects your life.

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Marginal Costs and Benefits

Marginal Costs and Marginal Benefits

How do businesses decide how much to produce? How do we decide whether to eat one more slice of pizza? By examining the marginal costs and benefits of their actions of course! What does this mean? Find out by watching this presentation.

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Factors of Production

Factors of Production

Because there's only so much of any thing to go around whether it's money, oil or tickets to a concert, people have to make economic choices. This is known as resource scarcity. Resources can be classified into four different categories. In economics, these categories are referred to as the factors of production. Watch this presentation to learn more about these factors.

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Six Economic Functions of Government

Six Economic Fuctions of Government

As I'm sure you've seen in the news, it's rare that everyone (private citizens, interests groups, and political leaders) agrees 100% about how much involvement the government should have in the economy. Economists are no diffferent. Although they may disagree about how involved the government should be, economists tend to agree that the government has six economic functions that it performs in order to aid its citizens and keep markets functioning well. Watch this presentation to learn about these functions.

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