a social science that studies how people, acting individually and in groups, decide to use scarce resources to satisfy their wants.

Inputs that can be transformed into goods and services (natural, human, capital, and entrepreneurial talent)

a condition that exists between unlimited wants and needs and the limited resources available to satisfy them, requiring people to make choices.

The highest valued alternative given up as a result of making a choice .

Something that encourages different behaviors and choices.

A negative or withdrawn reward. ( Fines or Punishments )

Making rational choices by weighing benefits and costs, including opportunity costs.

Items or services that you must have in order to live.

Assign or distribute a resource, good, or service.

things that add comfort and pleasure to your life

When each trading partner focuses on producing goods or services within a limited area of expertise.

Buyers and sellers willingly trading goods, services, effort, and money with an expectation of being better off than before.

A motivating factor that leads individuals to focus on those actions and choices that promise the most personal benefit and involve the least cost.

Money earned through the productive employment of resources. Wages, salaries, rent, and interest are the four main sources of income.

A person who buys goods and services.

A person who sets income aside for future use.

means spending the income today on goods and services, rather than saving it for future use.

The combined system and flow of resources, production, consumption, and wealth that move in and out of households, businesses, and government.

also known as a free enterprise economy, in which business owners choose what to produce, when to produce it, how much to produce, and at what price, based on what the consumers want and are willing to pay for. Government's role is limited.

Money earned in excess of what it costs to produce goods and services.

Money earned from sales.

The total cost of production exceeds revenue.

One who identifies an opportunity and takes a risk to innovate or start a business in order to create value and earn profit.

are Materials used in production. Unaltered gifts of nature, such as soil, land, minerals, timber, and freshwater.

includes the physical and mental efforts people use to create goods and services.

The tools, equipment, and buildings that are used to produce goods and services

is the imagination, innovative thinking, and ability to see opportunity where others only see problems or obstacles. It is the skill required to lower costs when others struggle to produce at higher costs.

The amount that is spent to obtain something, such as what is spent to employ the four productive resources.

Maintaining, developing, or expanding a business's production capacity to earn future profits.

The amount paid to purchase buildings, tools, and machines to create goods and services.

A decision-making process for weighing the costs and benefits of incremental changes in production in an attempt to maximize profit and minimize loss.

The additional revenue generated by selling one more item.

"The point at which total revenue and total costs are equal.

Money earned in excess of what it costs to produce goods and services

The total cost of production exceeds revenue.

Money earned from sales.

Information sent to producers and consumers that affects supply and demand, based on the price of goods, services, and resources.

net income/net sales

Rivalry between two or more people such as businesses striving to earn the consumer's dollar or between to or more consumers trying to purchase the same product.

Meeting all needs without outside help.

The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a year or quarter.

Government payments or other support that decrease an industry's production costs based on political considerations rather than economic factors. They may or may not decrease the consumer's price of the industry's goods.

A condition in which individuals and businesses have freedom of choice in employment, buying, selling, use of time, and other economically related decisions.

A condition in which almost all people in the labor force are working in jobs best suited for their skills.

A condition in which the output of goods and services in an economy increases over the previous period, usually a quarter or year.

An economic condition in which prices of goods, services, and resources do not fluctuate significantly, either up or down, in a short period of time.

Market economy goal of protection against financial risks associated with war, natural disasters, and accidents on the job— situations in which people have little or no control.

A condition in which maximum output is obtained at the least cost from the resources used to produce goods and services.

A condition of economic fairness and impartiality as defined by an established standard.

The highest valued alternative given up as a result of making a choice

When each trading partner focuses on producing goods or services within a limited area of expertise

When one trading partner can produce more goods or services than another partner using the same amount of effort and other resources.

When one trading partner can produce goods or services at a lower opportunity cost than the other partner using available resources.

A method of economic reasoning that helps you to compare your alternatives in order to make the best decision

Assign or distribute a resource , good, or service

A financial plan that summarizes an individual planned income, spending, saving, and investing over a specific time period

The process of buying and using a good or service

Making rational choices by weighing benefits and costs, including opportunity costs

The highest valued alternative given up as a result of making a choice.

Something that encourages different behaviors and choices

Making decisions by evaluating the benefit of one more increment of something against the additional cost.

Someone who buys goods and services

The additional satisfaction of using one more unit of a product.

The additional cost of producing one more unit of a product

The point reached when an additional unit of a product consumed is less satisfying than the one before it.

The rate at which you give up one thing to get something else offering equal satisfaction.

Money earned in excess of what it costs to produce goods and services.

When one trading partner can produce goods or services at a lower opportunity cost than the other partner using available resources

When one trading partner can produce more goods or services than another partener using the same amount of effort and other resources.

When each trading partner focuses on producing goods or services within a limited area of expertise.

The institutional framework of formal and informal rules that society uses to determine how to use available resources to produce and distribute goods and services.

Formal and informal rules, laws, and customs that influence issues of money, goods, services, property, and contracts in a group or society.

An economic system which people rely on traditions or social customs to choose what, how, and for whom to make goods and services

An economic system that leaves production, consumption, and price decisions largely to consumers and business people with only limited influence by government, also known as a pure market economy. Not currently used by a nation.

An economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government.

An economic system in which decisions about production and consumption are driven in part by supply and demand and in part by government command and/or traditional elements, combining two or more types of economic systems.

- which goods and services should be produced? Who will produce them?

An improvement of an existing technological product, system, or method of doing something.

One who identifies an opportunity and takes a risk to innovate or start a business in order to create value and earn a profit.

One who identifies an opportunity to innovate in order to create value and earn additional profit within an established business.

To create or organize something new, original, or groundbreaking that is of value to others.

message sent to consumers and producers in the form of a price charged for a commodity. This is seen as indicating a signal for producers to increase supplies and/ or consumers to reduce demand.

Markets made up of many self-interested producers and consumers with free entry and exit.

The stages a business goes through beginning with its startup stage, moving through its high-growth stage, and ending with its decline and survival stage unless new innovation is introduced.

A process by which innovation leads to changes in a system that is superior to the previous process, industry, or mode of production. It leads to growth and prosperity.

A firm or group of firms that produces particular or similar products.

A business that is owned and operated by one person with unlimited liability.

A business organization owned by two or more people who share ownership and control over the business with unlimited liability.

A form of business that is legally separate from its owners and guided by a board of directors.

A share of ownership in a corporation.

People who own part of a corporate public company through the ownership of shares of stock. They are also called stockholders.