Welcome to Economics! (Economics)

Recall cards introducing economics. The core problem of scarcity: economics as the study of decision-making under scarcity, limited resources, and time as the ultimate scarce resource. The division of labor (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776; the pin factory), and why it raises production: comparative advantage, faster and higher-quality specialists, and economies of scale; specialization requires trade. The two branches of the field: microeconomics (individual agents) versus macroeconomics (the economy as a whole), the goals of macroeconomic policy, and monetary versus fiscal policy. How economists think: Keynes on economics as a method, theories versus models, and the circular flow diagram of households and firms in the goods-and-services and labor markets. How economies are organized: traditional, command, and market systems, private enterprise, globalization, exports and imports, GDP, and the rising ratio of exports to GDP.