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RATIONAL IGNORANCE: The decision not to become informed about something because the cost of doing it is more than the expected benefit. In that information is costly, there's always some limit to how much anyone can know. The idea of rational ignorance, while popping up on a daily basis for most of us, is quite important come election time. Many voters decided, logically so, that it's not really worth their efforts to get ALL of the details on every candidate and issue on the ballot.
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                           GOOD: A physical, tangible item or product used to satisfy wants and needs. A good is produced using society's resources and represents a fundamental aspect of the economy. Limited resources are used to produced the goods that satisfy unlimited wants and needs in an ongoing effort to address the problem of scarcity. As used in economics, the word "good" undoubtedly can be traced to the more common usage--something that is positive or beneficial. In that a "good" provides satisfaction and in so doing makes the consumer better off, it is a "good" thing to have. In fact, an item that has a negative impact on satisfaction, such as pollution or crime, is often referred to as a "bad."Goods and ServicesTangible goods should be contrasted with a related concept, intangible services. Services are activities that provide direct satisfaction of wants and needs without the production of a tangible item. In that wants and needs are satisfied with either tangible goods or intangible services, the phrase goods and services is commonly used to comprehensively capture all production in the economy. As such, terms like gross domestic product are defined using the phrase the "...market value of all goods and services."Important ModifiersAs a fundamental concept of economic activity, the term good serves in a number of contexts with a number of different adjective modifiers. Here is a short list for your consideration:- Economic Good: A tangible item produced using scarce, economic resources. This means virtually the same as the unmodified term "good" but adding the adjective "economic" serves to signify that the good has limited availability relative to desired use and is thus subject to economic analysis.
- Scarce Good: A synonymous term for economic good. The adjective "scarce" emphasizes that the good has limited availability relative to desired use, reflecting the pervasive problem of scarcity.
- Free Good: A good plentiful enough to satisfy all desired uses, often with some left over. Unlike scarce or economic goods that are traded through markets, free goods are not traded through markets and usually have a zero price.
- Final Good: A good that is available for purchase by the ultimate or intended user with no plans for further transformation or as an input in the production of other goods for resale.
- Intermediate Good: A good that is used as an input in the production of a final good.
- Normal Good: A good in which an increase in income causes an increase in market demand.
- Inferior Good: A good in which an increase in income causes a decrease in market demand.
- Private Good: A good that can be exchanged through markets because it is rival in consumption and nonpayers can be excluded from gaining control, which makes market exchanges virtually impossible.
- Public Good: A good that is generally provided by government because it is nonrival in consumption and nonpayers cannot be excluded from gaining control.
- Near-Public Good: A good that is generally provided or at least regulated by government because it is nonrival in consumption, even though nonpayers can be excluded from gaining control.
- Common-Property Good: A good that is generally provided or at least regulated by government because even though it is rival in consumption, nonpayers cannot be excluded from gaining control.
Although this list is lengthy, it is but a tip of the iceberg. A more complete list would also include capital good, consumption good, superior good, luxury good, Giffen good, durable good, nondurable good, and... well... a whole lot more.
Recommended Citation:GOOD, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 18, 2025].
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PINK FADFLY
[What's This?]
Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time calling an endless list of 800 numbers wanting to buy either a weathervane with a cow on top or a box of multi-colored, plastic paper clips. Be on the lookout for high interest rates.
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This isn't me! What am I?
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North Carolina supplied all the domestic gold coined for currency by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia until 1828.
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"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses those skills to accomplish his goals. " -- Larry Bird, basketball player
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BPEA
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity
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