The way a society uses resources to satisfy its people's wants.

An economic system in which individual choice and voluntary exchange direct economic decisions.

An economic system in which people produce and distribute goods according to customs handed down from generation to generation.

An economic system in which the government owns ALL the factors of production and there is little or no political freedom.

A system in which central government officials make all economic decisions.

Systems that require absolute obedience to those in power.

An economic system in which the government makes all economic decisions.

An economic system in which the government owns SOME or all of the factors of production.

The rights of individuals and groups to own businesses and resources.

An economic system that is based on private ownership of the factors of production.

The principle that the government should not interfere in the marketplace.

A trade in which both traders believe that what they are getting is worth more than what they are giving up.

Any place where people buy and sell goods and services.

A situation in which people concentrate their efforts in the activities that they do best.

Involves all the actions sellers, acting independently, do to get buyers to purchase their products.

The idea that consumers have the ultimate control over what is produced because they are free to buy what they want and to reject what they don't want.

A financial gain that a seller makes from a business transaction.

The market where goods and services are bought and sold.

The market for the factors of production-land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.

A tool that economists use to understand how market economies operate.