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DERIVED DEMAND: The notion that the demand for a factor or production, an input used in the production of a good, depends on the demand for the output being produced. This concept highlights the two key aspects of factor demand. One is that factor demand depends on the value of the good being produced. Inputs that produce more valuable outputs are themselves more highly valued. Two is that factor demand depends on the productivity of the input. Inputs that produce more output are themselves more highly valued.

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Lesson Contents
Unit 1: The Concept
  • A Definition
  • So What?
  • Unit 1 Summary
  • Unit 2: Resources
  • Factors
  • Working Together
  • Free or Scarce?
  • Comparisons
  • Unit 2 Summary
  • Unit 3: Opportunity Cost
  • The Concept
  • Economic Cost
  • Unit 3 Summary
  • Unit 4: College Cost
  • Out of Pocket
  • What Else?
  • Unit 4 Summary
  • Unit 5: THE Problem
  • No Free Lunch
  • Solutions?
  • Unit 5 Summary
  • Course Home
    Scarcity

    In this lesson you'll see why scarcity tends to make economists grumpy. You'll see that scarcity is a perpetual condition that exists because people have unlimited wants and needs, but limited resources. You'll also see how this scarcity problem underlies the common notion of cost, which is integral to the study of economics. The five units contained in this lesson provide a tour through the economic problem of scarcity.

    • The first unit, A Big Problem, examines the fundamental concept of scarcity -- the combination of limited resources and unlimited wants and needs -- that is virtually synonymous with the study of economics.
    • The second unit, Resources, discusses the four basic categories of limited resources -- labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship -- which produce the goods that are used to satisfy unlimited wants and needs.
    • In the third unit, Opportunity Cost, we take a look at the notion of opportunity cost and see how it is related to the scarcity problem.
    • We then turn out attention in the fourth unit, College Cost, to a simple example of the explicit and implicit costs of attending college.
    • The fifth and final unit, THE Big Problem, in this lesson then ponders why scarcity is considered THE economic problem and provides a little insight into why economists are grumpy.

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    SAVING LINE

    A graphical depiction of the relation between household sector saving and income. The saving line is closely related to the consumption line that forms one of the key building blocks for Keynesian economics. A saving line is characterized by vertical intercept, which indicates autonomous saving, and slope, which is the marginal propensity to save and indicates induced saving. The injections-leakages model used in Keynesian economics is based on the saving line.

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    APLS

    WHITE GULLIBON
    [What's This?]

    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time wandering around the downtown area looking to buy either handcrafted decorations to hang on your walls or throw pillows for your bed. Be on the lookout for high interest rates.
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    A U.S. dime has 118 groves around its edge, one fewer than a U.S. quarter.
    "Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action for all eternity."

    -- Johann Kaspar Lavater

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