ECON 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Arable Land, Marginal Cost, Marginal Utility

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 110
• Professor: Ian James Cromb

Document Summary

Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited human wants. There are not enough resources to satisfy everyone"s wants world of scarcity: scarcity is inevitable and central to economic problems. Resources are divided into factors of production (resources to produce goods & services: land all natural endowments ex. Arable land, forests, lakes, crude oil, and minerals: labour all mental and physical human resources ex. Entrepreneurial capacity and management skills: capital manufactured aids to production ex. What is produced is divided between goods and services. Goods and services are used to satisfy consumer desires: production the act of making goods and services, consumption the act of using goods or services to satisfy wants. Goods are valued for the services they provide (cars = transport, mobility, maybe status) Scarcity is relative to our desires: all societies face the problem of deciding what to produce and the quantity consumed.