经济学原理英文名词解释.docxVIP

名词解释 1.Scarcity The limited nature of society’s resources. 2.Efficiency The property of society getting the most it can from its scarce resources. 3.Opportunity Cost Whatever must be given up to obtain some item. 4.Market Failure A situation in which a market left on its own fails to allocate resources efficiently. 5.Externality The impact of one person’s actions on the well-being of a bystander. 6.Circular-flow Diagram A visual model of the economy that shows how dollars flow through markets among households and firms. 7.Production Possibilities Frontier A graph that shows the combinations of output that the economy can possibly produce given the available factors of production and the available production technology. 8.Microeconomics The study of how households and firms make decisions and how they interact in markets. 9.Macroeconomics The study of economy-wide phenomena, including inflation,unemployment, and economic growth. 10.Positive Statements Claims that attempt to describe the world as it is. 11.Normative Statements Claims that attempt to prescribe how the world should be. 12.Absolute Advantage The comparison among producers of a good according to their productivity. 13.Comparative Advantage The comparison among producers of a good according to their opportunity cost. 14.Competitive Market A market in which there are many buyers and many sellers so that each has a negligible impact on the marketprice. 15.Law of Demand The claim that, other things equal, the quantity demanded of a good falls when the price of the good rises. 16.Normal Good A good for which, other things equal,an increase in income leads to an increase in demand. 17.Inferior Good A good for which, other things equal,an increase in income leads to a decrease in demand. 18.Law of Supply The claim that, other things equal, the quantity supplied of a good rises when the price of the good rises. 19.Equilibrium Price The price that balances supply and demand. 20.Law