Abstract & Brief

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Economics helps us understand the society and global affairs better. This page, however, intended to be an introduction, will only provide you with a very general perspective of the economic world, how it comes to be, how we do research on it and how it is connected to the daily lives of thousands of millions. Upon finishing this crash course, you should be able to:

  1. Talk about the 2 fundamental economic problems: resource scarcity and unlimited human wants.
  2. Think about in basic economic analytical process.

Since this text DOES NOT mean to be exhaustive, if you feel like going into in-depth study, refer to the links at econguru.com.


Table of Contents

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  1. The Scope and Method of Economics
    1. Scope of Economics
      1. Microeconomics
      2. Macroeconomics
    2. Analytic Tools and Methods of Economics
      1. A Key Assumption: Rational Self-Interest
      2. Opportunity Cost
      3. Marginal Analysis & Sunk Cost
      4. Positive vs. Normative
      5. 4 Steps to Reach a Conclusion
    3. From economic Theories to economic Policy
      1. The Building of Theories and Models
      2. Economic Policy and 4 Criteria for Judging
  2. The Two Reasons Economics Come to Be: Scarce Resources & Unlimited Wants
    1. Resources & Goods and Services
    2. The Three Basic Questions
    3. Specialization & Comparative Advantage
    4. The Production Possibility Frontier
    5. The Economic Problem
  3. The Economic System & Market Structure
    1. Economic Systems
    2. The Institutional Structure of the U.S. Economy
      1. The Private Sector
      2. The Public Sector
      3. The International Sector