【曼昆经济学原理原版英文】.pdf

IN THIS CHAPTER
YOU WILL . . .
Learn that
economics is about
the allocation of
scarce resources
Examine some of the
tradeoffs that people
face
Learn the meaning of
opportunity cost
See how to use
marginal reasoning
when making
decisions
Discuss how
incentives affect
TEN PRINCIPLES people’s behavior
OF ECONOMICS
Consider why trade
among people or
The word es from the Greek word for “one who manages a house- nations can be good
hold.” At first, this origin might seem peculiar. But, in fact, households and for everyone
economies have much mon.
A household faces many decisions. It must decide which members of the
household do which tasks and what each member gets in return: Who cooks din-
ner? Who does the laundry? Who gets the extra dessert at dinner? Who gets to Discuss why markets
choose what TV show to watch? In short, the household must allocate its scarce re- are a good, but not
sources among its various members, taking into account each member’s abilities, perfect, way to
efforts, and desires. allocate resources
Like a household, a society faces many decisions. A society must decide what
jobs will be done and who will do them. It needs some people to grow food, other
people to make clothing, and still others to puter software. Once soci- Learn what
ety has allocated people (as well as land, buildings, and machines) to various jobs, determines some
trends in the overall
economy
3
4 PART ONE INTRODUCTION
it must also allocate the output of goods and services that they produce. It must
decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes. It must decide who will
drive a Porsche and who will take the bus.
The management of society’s resources is important because resources are
scarcity scarce. Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot pro-
the limited nature of society’s duce all the goods and services people wish to have. Just as a household cannot
resources give ev