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INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNT: A savings retirement account set up with a bank, mutual fund, brokerage firm that allows people to set aside a portion of their income each year. Like other private pension plans, income diverted to an individual retirement account (or IRA) is tax deferred, that is, taxes on not paid on the income until it is withdrawn during retirement.

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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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    M1

    The narrow-range monetary aggregate for the U.S. economy containing the combination of currency (and coins) issued by government and held by the nonbank public and checkable deposits issued by banking institutions. M1 contains the two items that function as THE medium of exchange for the U.S. economy. M1 is one of three monetary aggregates tracked and reported by the Federal Reserve System. The other two are designated M2 and M3.

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    APLS

    GRAY SKITTERY
    [What's This?]

    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time watching infomercials wanting to buy either clothing for your kitty cats or a set of luggage without wheels. Be on the lookout for infected paper cuts.
    Your Complete Scope

    This isn't me! What am I?

    Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
    "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."

    -- Peter Drucker, management consultant

    ISIC
    International Standard Industrial Classification
    A PEDestrian's Guide
    Xtra Credit
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