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Chapter 18
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| need | requirements for survival, such as food, clothing, and shelter. |
| want | a thing we would like to have, such as entertainment, vacations, or an item that makes life comfortable and enjoyable. |
| economics | the study of how individuals and nations make choices about ways to use scarce resources to fulfill their needs and wants |
| microeconomics | the economic behavior and decsion-making by individuals and small businesses |
| economic model | simplified representation of the real world that economists develop to describe how the economy behaves and is expected to perform in the future |
| economic system | nations way of producing things its people want and need |
| macroeconomics | economic behavior and decision making by government or whole industries or societies |
| resource | the money, people, and materials available to accomplish a community's goals |
| scarcity | not having enough resources to produce all of the things we would like to have |
| trade-off | the alternative you face if you decide to do one thing rather than another |
| opportunity cost | the cost of the text best alternative use of time and money when choosing to do one thing rather than another |
| marginal cost | the additional or extra opportunity cost associated with an action |
| marginal benefit | the additional or extra opportunity benefit associated with an action |
| cost-benefit analysis | economic model that compares the marginal costs and marginal benefits of decisions |