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IMPORTS LINE: A graphical depiction of the relation between imports bought from the foreign sector and the domestic economy's aggregate level of income or production. This relation is most important for deriving the net exports line, which plays a minor, but growing role in the study of Keynesian economics. An imports line is characterized by vertical intercept, which indicates autonomous imports, and slope, which is the marginal propensity to import and indicates induced imports. The aggregate expenditures line used in Keynesian economics is derived by adding or stacking the net exports line, derived as the difference between the exports line and imports line, onto the consumption line, after adding investment expenditures and government purchases.

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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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    IMPLICIT COST

    An opportunity cost that does not involve a monetary payment or any other form of compensation. The monetary payment that is often made to compensate the person who initially foregoes the satisfaction is not made for implicit cost. There is no payment to transfer the burden of the opportunity cost from the original person to someone else. Implicit cost is also occasionally termed implicit opportunity cost.

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    APLS

    PURPLE SMARPHIN
    [What's This?]

    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time looking for a downtown retail store wanting to buy either a remote controlled sports car with an air spoiler or semi-gloss photo paper that works with your neighbor's printer. Be on the lookout for fairy dust that tastes like salt.
    Your Complete Scope

    This isn't me! What am I?

    Cyrus McCormick not only invented the reaper for harvesting grain, he also invented the installment payment for selling his reaper.
    "The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. "

    -- Tony Blair, British prime minister

    DCF
    Discounted Cash Flow
    A PEDestrian's Guide
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