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BALANCE OF TRADE: The difference between funds received by a country when exporting merchandise and the funds paid for importing merchandise. The balance of trade is a major part of the current accounts portion of the balance of payments. A balance of trade surplus results if exports exceed imports, commonly termed a favorable balance of trade, and a balance of trade deficit exists if imports exceed exports, analogously termed an unfavorable balance of trade. The "favorable" and "unfavorable" normative connotations attached to the balance of trade rests with the presumption that a nation is "better off" when it exports more than it imports, which is not necessarily true.

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Lesson Contents
Unit 1: The Method
  • Overview
  • Components
  • A Process
  • Unit 1 Summary
  • Unit 2: Theory
  • Concept
  • Abstraction
  • Economic Theories
  • Unit 2 Summary
  • Unit 3: Verification
  • Overview & Data
  • Evaluation
  • Evaluation:Don't Agree
  • Unit 3 Summary
  • Unit 4: Science and Practice
  • Set Up
  • Theory
  • Verification
  • Unit 4 Summary
  • Unit 5: Cause and Effect
  • Purpose
  • An Example
  • Analysis
  • Unit 5 Summary
  • Course Home
    Economic Science

    In this lesson you'll see why and how the scientific method is a process of discovery. You'll see that it's a process of building theories to explain the workings of the world (the economy) by proposing then testing hypotheses. The five units making up this lesson will guide you through the basics of the scientific method and how it's used in the study of economics.

    • The first unit, The Method, introduces the scientific method, especially its' four key components -- theories, principles, hypothesis, and data.
    • The second unit, Theory, then takes a closer look at theories, including the central role played by abstraction.
    • In the third unit, Verification, we focus on the process of verification -- how and why hypothesized relationships about the workings of the economy are compared with actual data.
    • We then turn out attention in the fourth unit, Science and Practice, to a simple example of how the scientific method is used to test a hypothesized relation between course grades and where students are seated in a classroom.
    • The fifth and final unit in this lesson, Cause and Effect, examines the role that cause and effect plays in the scientific method and economic science.

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    RETURNS TO SCALE

    Changes in production the occur when all resources are proportionately changed in the long run. Returns to scale come in three forms--increasing, decreasing, or constant based on whether the changes in production are proportionally more than, less than, or equal to the proportional changes in inputs. Returns to scale are the guiding principle for long-run production, playing a similar role that the law of diminishing marginal returns plays for short-run production.

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    APLS

    PINK FADFLY
    [What's This?]

    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at the confiscated property police auction seeking to buy either a birthday gift for your mother or a weathervane with a horse on top. Be on the lookout for cardboard boxes.
    Your Complete Scope

    This isn't me! What am I?

    A scripophilist is one who collects rare stock and bond certificates, usually from extinct companies.
    "Defeat is simply a signal to press onward. "

    -- Helen Keller, author, lecturer

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