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DIAMOND-WATER PARADOX: The perplexing observation that water, which is more useful than diamonds, has a lower price. If price is related to utility, how can this occur? This paradox was first proposed by classical economists in the 19th century and was subsequently used as a stepping stone for developing the notion of marginal utility and the role it plays in the demand price of a good. The paradox is magically cleared up with an understanding of marginal utility and total utility. People are willing to pay a higher price for goods with greater marginal utility. As such, water which is plentiful has enormous total utility, but a low price because of a low marginal utility. Diamonds, however, have less total utility because they are less plentiful, but a high price because of a high marginal utility.
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TOTAL COST The opportunity cost incurred by all of the factors of production used by a firm to produce a good or service, including wages paid to labor, rent paid for the land, interest paid to capital owners, and a normal profit paid to entrepreneurs. Total cost is most important in the analysis a firm's short-run production decision and is frequently separated into total variable cost and total fixed cost. Two other cost measures directly related to total cost are marginal cost and average total cost. Total cost is half of the information a firm uses to determine profit, the other half is total revenue.
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Fact 1: Our Limited PieThe first stop for any pedestrian on a leisurely stroll through the busy economic streets of Shady Valley is Scarcity Stan's Ye Olde Bakery Shoppe and Confectionery Palace. The most noted pastry on Scarcity Stan's list of delectables, wedged between his mouth-watering apple danishes and scrumptious jelly donuts, is economic pie. My mouth waters with the thought. Economic pie isn't like other donuts, cakes, and confectioneries with their gobs of sweetness, but very little nutritional sustenance. In fact, given that it refers to the sum total of the economy's resources and productive activity, economic pie is filled to the brim with sustenance. Unfortunately, Scarcity Stan and the congregation of people we call society, has only one economic pie, and while it's pretty large, it's never quite as big as we would like.
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WHITE GULLIBON
[What's This?]
Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time visiting every yard sale in a 30-mile radius looking to buy either a combination CD player, clock radio, and telephone (with answering machine) or a revolving spice rack. Be on the lookout for florescent light bulbs that hum folk songs from the sixties.
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This isn't me! What am I?
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The standard "debt" notation I.O.U. does not mean "I owe you," but actually stands for "I owe unto..."
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"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., clergyman
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EMU
European Monetary Union
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