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COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: The ability to produced one good at a relatively lower opportunity cost than other goods. While pointy-headed economists developed this idea for nations, it's extremely important for people. A comparative advantage means that no matter how good (or bad) you are at producing stuff, there's always something that you're best (or least worst) at doing. Moreover, because you can produce this one thing by giving up less than what others give up, you can sell it or trade it to them. This idea of comparative advantage means that people and nations can benefit by specialization and exchange. You do what you do best, then trade to someone else for what they do best. Both sides in this trade get more and are thus better off after than before.

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Lesson Contents
Unit 1: Introduction
  • A Definition
  • Doing Production
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Capital
  • The Industry
  • Unit 1 Summary
  • Unit 2: Objectives
  • Staying Alive
  • Profit And Maximization
  • Real World Firms
  • Natural Selection
  • Unit 2 Summary
  • Unit 3: Legal Types
  • Types
  • Proprietorship
  • Partnership
  • Corporation
  • Other Options
  • Liability
  • Unit 3 Summary
  • Unit 4: U.S. Firms
  • Legal Types
  • By Industry
  • Unit 4 Summary
  • Unit 5: The Bigger Picture
  • Market Structures
  • Business Sector
  • Unit 5 Summary
  • Course Home
    The Firm

    This lesson investigates the nature of firms, especially those in the U.S. economy, including what they are, what they do, and how they operate. Paying careful attention to this lesson is no guaranteed that Duncan will end up with a multi-billion dollar "dot-com" business, but it won't hurt.

    • The first unit of this lesson, Organizing Production, gets us started with an overview of what firms are and their primary function in the economy -- which is production.
    • In the second unit, Objectives, we take a closer look at what motivates firms, especially the pursuit of profit.
    • The third unit, Legal Types, examines the most common legal forms of business firms, including proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations.
    • The fourth unit, U.S. Firms, investigates firms in the United States by the numbers -- including how many, what they are, what they produce.
    • The fifth and final unit, The Bigger Picture, then closes this lesson by discussing the role firms play in the grand economic scheme of things.

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    INTEREST-RATE EFFECT

    A change in aggregate expenditures on real production, especially those made by the household and business sectors, that results because a change in the price level alters the interest rate which then affects the cost of borrowing. This is one of three effects underlying the negative slope of the aggregate demand curve associated with a movement along the aggregate demand curve and a change in aggregate expenditures. The other two are real-balance effect and net-export effect.

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    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time browsing about a thrift store trying to buy either a microwave over that won't burn your popcorn or a T-shirt commemorating the first day of winter. Be on the lookout for pencil sharpeners with an attitude.
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    Helping spur the U.S. industrial revolution, Thomas Edison patented nearly 1300 inventions, 300 of which came out of his Menlo Park "invention factory" during a four-year period.
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