1. Which of these provisions is not related to the definition of the subject of theoretical economics?
A) efficient use of resources;
B) unlimited production resources;
C) maximum satisfaction of needs;
D) material and spiritual needs;
E) rarity of a good.
2. In which of the following cases does the study of theoretical economics have no practical significance?
A) every person is influenced by the economy and influences it himself;
B) every person earns money using his knowledge and experience about certain areas of activity. Theoretical economics teaches students “the ability to live”;
C) every person faces political problems, many of which are related to economics;
D) anyone who understands how the economy works is better able to solve their own economic problems.
3. Economic theory:
A) Suitable for studying all economic systems;
B) Suitable only for studying the capitalist economic system;
C) Cannot be useful in studying economic relations inherent in socialism;
D) Answers B and C are correct;
E) Suitable for studying pre-industrial systems.
4. Macroeconomics is defined as the field of economic theory that studies:
A) processes occurring in national economy, taken as a whole;
B) the role of the state in the economy;
C) global problems economic development humanity;
D) the same problems as political economy in the original meaning of the term;
E) correct answers C) and D);
5. Which of the following statements is correct:
A) Economic laws operate objectively, but people must study them and use them in practical activities;
B) Economic laws operate according to the will of people, people establish them;
C) Economic laws act on their own, regardless of the will and desires of people;
D) Economic laws are the same as legal laws;
E) Answers B and D are correct.
6. What are economic laws:
A) Significant internal, stable cause-and-effect relationships in industrial relations;
B) Formalized ideas about economic phenomena;
C) Scientific abstractions that allow us to determine the essential aspects of economic phenomena;
D) Articles of the criminal and civil codes that regulate economic relations and economic activities;
E) Legal laws.
7. What are economic categories:
A) simplified statements;
B) subjective assessments of concepts;
C) scientific abstractions expressing certain aspects of industrial relations;
D) cause-and-effect relationships;
E) formalized ideas about economic phenomena
8. An economy is effective if it achieves:
A) full employment;
B) full use of production resources;
C) either full employment or full use of remaining resources;
D) both full employment and full use of other productive resources;
E) all of the above are incorrect
9. If economic growth promotes equitable distribution of income, then these two macroeconomic goals are:
A) logically related to each other;
B) contradict each other;
C) complement each other;
D) are mutually exclusive;
10. What is the economic goal if society seeks to minimize costs and maximize returns from limited productive resources?
A) achieving full employment;
B) maintaining economic growth;
C) economic security;
D) economic efficiency;
E) all of the above are incorrect.
11. Fundamental economic issues“what, how and for whom to produce” are decided at the micro and macro levels. Which of these questions can only be resolved at the macroeconomic level?
A) what is being produced?
B) what level of inflation will we face?
C) how many goods and services will be produced?
D) who will produce the goods and services?
E) for whom will the goods and services be produced?
12. Select a function that is not related to the functions of economic theory:
A) Cognitive;
B) Practical;
C) Methodological;
D) Intermediary;
E) Critical.
13. The problem of “what to produce”:
A) can only stand before a private entrepreneur, but not before society;
B) can be considered as a point selection problem on the LPV;
C) is studied on the basis of the law of diminishing productivity of factors of production;
D) occurs only in conditions of acute resource shortage;
E) there is no correct answer.
14. Rarity is:
A) Characteristics of industrial systems only;
B) A concept reflecting the impossibility of fully satisfying human needs;
C) Characteristics of pre-industrial systems only;
D) Efficiency;
E) Effective demand.
15. Identify which of the following triplets of economic resources provides examples of only factors of production:
A) bank account, store owner, sulfur;
B) banker, oil, tractor;
C) geologist, machine tool, money;
D) bonds, coal, foreman;
E) money, technologist, gas.
16. The effective functioning of the economic system on the production possibilities schedule reflects:
A) Any point on the production possibilities curve;
B) The point below the production possibilities curve;
C) The point above the production possibilities curve;
D) A point lying on the production possibilities curve and equally distant from both ordinates;
E) The correct answers are A and D.
17. For students, the alternative value of studying at a university is reflected by:
A) The maximum earnings that can be earned while working;
B) The amount of the scholarship;
C) State costs for the education of the average specialist;
D) Parents' expenses for maintaining the student;
E) The young person’s time spent on learning;
18. Which of the following characteristics is incorrect in relation to an economic good:
A) Is only the result of production;
B) Can satisfy people's needs;
C) Is insufficient to meet the needs of all people;
D) Not gratuitous: in order to have an economic good, one must give up another economic good;
E) Correct answers are B, C.
19. Scarcity is a problem that:
A) Exists only in poor countries;
C) Only poor people have it;
C) All people and societies have it;
D) Never occurs in rich people;
E) Never occurs in rich countries.
20. The desire of an individual to obtain maximum results at minimum costs is human behavior:
A) Rational;
B) Irrational;
C) Dependent;
D) Consumer;
E) Public.
a) the salary that could be received by working instead of studying;
b) expenses for educational literature and stationery;
c) food expenses;
d) tuition fees.
19. A farmer can grow potatoes and wheat in his field. If he sows the entire field with potatoes, he will harvest 400 tons, and if with wheat, 100 tons. What is the opportunity cost of one ton of wheat:
a) the opportunity cost cannot be accurately determined, since it is not known how much wheat was sown and how much potatoes were sown;
b) 4 tons of potatoes;
c) 1/4 ton of potatoes;
d) opportunity cost cannot be determined because prices are unknown.
20. You earn 200 rubles per day. One day you decide to leave in the afternoon for football, paying 50 rubles for a ticket. Your costs are:
a) 100 rubles as income for half a day;
b) 50 rubles per ticket;
c) 150 rubles as the sum of income for half a day and the ticket price;
D) there are no opportunity costs.
21. On the production possibilities curve, the increase in production of one type of product is combined:
a) with a decrease in the production of another type of product;
b) with an increase in the production of another type of product;
c) with a constant volume of production of another type of product;
d) any of the above options is possible.
55. Marginal costs are:a) maximum production costs;
b) average costs of producing a product;
c) costs associated with the release of an additional unit of production;
d) minimum costs for producing a product.
56. Total production costs are:
a) costs associated with the use of all resources and services for the production of products;
b) explicit (external) costs;
c) implicit (internal) costs, including normal profit;
d) producer costs associated with the purchase of durable consumer goods.
Page 3
a) Adam Smith;c) Francois Quesnay;
d) David Ricardo.
6. The problems that microeconomics studies include:
a) economic growth;
b) unemployment;
c) monopolistic competition;
d) government debt.
7. A macroeconomic indicator is not:
a) the price of the computer;
b) GDP growth rate;
c) unemployment rate;
d) price level.
8. The subject of macroeconomics is not:
a) state tax policy;
b) the rate of economic growth of the country;
c) state budget deficit;
d) the level of wages of an individual worker.
9. The laws of supply and demand are studied as part of the course:
a) management;
b) microeconomics;
c) macroeconomics;
d) finance.
10. The economic school expressing the interests of the commercial bourgeoisie of the era of primitive accumulation of capital is:
a) mercantilism;
b) physiocratism;
c) marginalism;
d) Marxism.
11. The mental decomposition of phenomena into their component parts and the isolation of its individual aspects in order to identify what is specific in them that distinguishes them from each other is:
a) economic experiment;
b) analysis;
c) discounting;
Page 4
12. Each point on the production possibilities curve characterizes:a) minimum volume of product output;
b) maximum volume of product output;
c) the best combinations of product releases;
d) alternative combinations of goods for a given amount of resources.
13. For a person who has the opportunity to get a job with a salary from 4,000 to 6,000 rubles per hour, the opportunity cost of one hour of leisure is equal, rub./hour:
14. For students, the alternative value of studying at a university is reflected by:
a) the amount of the scholarship;
b) the maximum earnings that can be received after dropping out of school;
c) state costs for the education of the average specialist;
d) parents' expenses for maintaining the student.
15. Which of the following lists of factors of production is more accurate:
a) labor, land, capital, labor, management;
b) labor, means of production, technology, entrepreneurship, management;
c) resources, technology, entrepreneurship;
d) labor, land, capital, entrepreneurship.
Page 5
16. Economic relations properties are characterized by:a) use of legal norms;
b) relationships between people regarding things, benefits;
c) people’s relationships to things and goods;
d) relationships between means and objects of labor.
17. What is behind the statement that every economic system faces the problem of limited resources:
a) there are times when some products can only be purchased at high prices;
b) production resources are never enough to satisfy all human needs;
c) in any economy there are periods of recession when there is a shortage of something;
Page 6
22. Ownership of property is:a) actual possession of the object;
b) extracting useful properties from it;
c) all of the above are true;
d) all of the above are incorrect.
23. The economic system solves the following issues:
a) what, how, for whom and what is the growth rate;
b) what, how, for whom;
c) when, where, why;
d) what, where, for whom.
24. The criteria for distinguishing types of economic systems are:
a) form of ownership of resources;
b) type of coordination mechanism;
c) the level of well-being of members of society;
d) answers a and b are correct.
25. If economic problems are solved by both the market and the government, then the economy is:
a) market;
b) team;
c) mixed;
Page 7
26. A Fundamental Problem Facing All Economic Systems:a) investments;
b) consumption;
c) production;
d) limited resources.
27. Which of the following characteristics does not apply to a market economy:
a) private property;
b) centralized planning;
c) competition;
d) freedom of enterprise.
28. Problems of “what, how and for whom to produce” may relate to:
a) only to societies where central planning dominates;
b) only to a market economy;
c) to any society, regardless of its socio-economic and political organization;
d) only to totalitarian systems.
Page 8
57. Economic profit is equal to the difference:a) between gross income and external costs;
b) between external and internal costs;
c) between gross income and total costs;
D) between total revenue and depreciation.
58. Variable costs include all of the following costs, except:
a) wages;
b) costs of raw materials and supplies;
c) depreciation;
d) electricity charges.
59. The cost of producing a unit of output is:
a) total costs;
b) average costs;
c) external costs;
d) variable costs.
60. Internal costs include:
a) expenses for the purchase of raw materials and supplies for the production of products;
b) costs of resources owned by the enterprise;
c) expenses associated with the acquisition of a plot of land by an enterprise;
d) rent for used equipment.
61. The enterprise’s purchase of raw materials from suppliers includes:
a) to external costs;
b) to internal costs;
c) to fixed costs;
Page 9
93. An example of transfer payments is:a) wages;
c) profit;
d) unemployment benefits.
94. GDP can be calculated as the sum of:
a) consumption, investment, government procurement and net exports;
b) consumption, transfer payments, wages and profits;
c) investments, wages, profits and the cost of intermediate goods;
d) the cost of final goods, intermediate goods, transfer payments and rents.
95. The founder of macroeconomics as a science is:
a) J.M. Keynes;
b) A. Marshall;
c) A. Smith;
d) K. McConnell.
96. Potential GNP is:
a) the value of all goods and services produced in the economy, from some base period to the present;
b) the value of all goods and services that can be produced if the economy operates under conditions of full employment of the labor force;
c) the value of all goods and services that could be produced if the economy operated at full employment of labor and capital;
D) the extent to which GNP can increase if the level of investment is maximized.
97. The classical model assumes that the aggregate supply (AS) curve will be:
a) horizontal at the price level determined by aggregate demand;
b) horizontal at the price level determined by the interest rate and government policy;
c) vertical GNP at an arbitrary level;
d) vertical at the level of potential GNP.
Page 10
121. Direct taxes do not include:a) corporate income tax;
b) income tax from individuals;
c) payment for water, land tax;
d) VAT, excise taxes, customs duties.
122. A pronounced anti-inflationary fiscal policy presupposes:
a) increasing the level of taxation and reducing government spending;
b) reduction in both tax revenues and government spending;
c) tax increases and more high level government spending;
D) lower taxes and higher levels of government spending.
Opportunity Cost
Production costs are usually understood as a group of expenses, monetary expenditures necessary to create a product. That is, for enterprises (firms, companies), they act as payment for acquired production factors.
Such expenses cover payment for materials necessary to ensure the production process (raw materials, electricity, fuel), employee wages, depreciation, and costs for ensuring production management.
When goods are sold, entrepreneurs receive revenue.
Some of the funds received are used to compensate for production costs (money to produce the required quantity of goods), the second part is to ensure profit, the main goal for which any production is started. This means that production costs will be less than the cost of the product per volume of profit.
What is opportunity cost?
Most of the costs of production come from the use of resources that support this very production. When resources are used in one place, they cannot be used elsewhere because they are rare and limited.
For example, the money that was spent to buy a blast furnace to produce pig iron cannot be used to produce soda.
Result: if any resource is decided to be used in a certain way, then it cannot be spent in another way.
Taking into account precisely this circumstance, whenever a decision is made to start production, there is a need to refuse to use a certain amount of resources in order to use this same resource in the manufacture of other products. Thus, opportunity costs are created.
Alternative costs of production are costs in the production of goods that have been assessed in terms of lost opportunities with the possible use of this same amount of resource for another purpose.
Example:
To be able to understand how opportunity cost is estimated, we can consider a desert island with Robinson Crusoe. Corn and potatoes are two crops he planted near his hut.
His plot of land is very limited on all sides: one side is the ocean, the second side is rocks, the third side is his hut, the fourth side is rocks. He decides to increase the area allocated for corn.
He will be able to implement this plan only when he reduces the area for planting potatoes.
The opportunity cost in the production of each future ear of corn in this situation can be expressed by the potato tubers that were not received by them subsequently using the potato land resource to increase the area under corn.
But in this example we were talking about only two products. But what is the right thing to do when we are talking about tens, hundreds, thousands of different products that are different from each other? In such cases, money comes to the rescue, with which all possible goods are compared with each other.
What is included in opportunity costs?
Opportunity costs of production can be the difference between profit, the opportunity to obtain which arises when using the most profitable alternative uses of a resource, and the profit that was actually received by entrepreneurs.
But not all producer costs fall under the concept of opportunity costs. When resources are used, costs borne by producers in an unconditional manner (for example, costs for registration, rental premises, etc.) will not be considered alternative. Therefore, non-opportunity costs will not take part in economic choice.
The main differences between implicit and explicit costs
Taking into account the economic point of view, opportunity costs are usually divided into two categories: explicit and implicit costs.
The first category, explicit costs, includes opportunity costs, the form of which is cash payments to suppliers for factors of production and intermediate products. The complex of such costs includes:
- remuneration of workers (payment in cash for workers who ensure production);
- financial costs for making purchases or paying for the rental of special equipment for production, structures, buildings in which the process of production of goods will take place (cash payments in favor of capital suppliers);
- payment of transport costs;
- payment of utilities (water, electricity, gas);
- fees for using the services of insurance companies and banking institutions;
- settlements with suppliers of resources of a material nature - raw materials, semi-finished products, components.
Implicit costs are the costs of an exclusively alternative nature that arise when using resources owned by the organization itself (unpaid costs). They can be presented in the following forms:
1) In the form of cash payments that could be received in the event of the most profitable investment of the resources at the disposal of the company. Lost profit, payment that could have been received by the owner when carrying out other work, interest on capital invested in various kinds securities, rent payments for the use of land.
2) In the form of normal profit, as a minimum remuneration in favor of the entrepreneur in order to keep him in the chosen industry of business.
For example, an entrepreneur is engaged in the production of furniture, and will consider the profit sufficient for himself, which is 15% of the total amount of capital invested in the production process.
When furniture production gives him a normal profit of less than 15%, he will change his type of activity, moving his capital to other industries that can provide a higher level of his profit.
3) For owners of capital - in the form of profit that could be received by them by investing their own resources not in this, but in any other business.
For owners of land plots, the essence of implicit costs is the rent that could be received when renting out their plots.
For entrepreneurs (and those who carry out ordinary work activities), an implicit cost may be the payment that they could have received when working at other companies for the same period of time.
Thus, Western economic theory also includes the income of entrepreneurs in production costs (Marx interprets this as the average profit on invested capital).
Therefore, receiving this kind of income is considered as a payment for all possible risks, as a reward for the entrepreneur, an incentive for him to hold his financial assets, without going beyond the established company, without diverting some of the resources to use them for other purposes.
Differences between economic and accounting costs
Production costs, including normal or average profit, constitute a set of costs that are of an economic nature.
Economic, or opportunity costs in the modern economy are those that were carried out under conditions that allowed the company to make the best decision for the company in economic terms when using resources. They are considered an ideal that every company should strive to achieve.
Of course, in most cases, in reality everything happens a little differently, because achieving any ideal can be very difficult, or almost impossible.
It should be additionally noted that economic costs are not equal to the concepts and values included in the accounting data. The amount of profit received by entrepreneurs will not be included in accounting costs.
Internal costs have a direct connection with those costs that arise when using part of your own product to further support the production process.
For example, about half of the grain harvest that was grown on the enterprise’s fields was used for sowing work on the very land from which it was previously collected.
Since this grain is the property of the company and is used to satisfy its own internal needs, payment will not be made.
Internal costs are directly related to the use of the company's own product, which will be converted into resources to further support the production process in the company.
External cost is a financial cost to obtain the required amount of resources to maintain production, which are not owned by the owners of a given company.
Costs arising in the production process can be classified not only by taking into account the resources used - the company's resources, or those that had to be paid. There are other classifications.
Opportunity costs arise from limited resources and virtually unlimited human needs. Only demand among consumers and the corresponding price lead to correct use limited resources.
The concept of “opportunity cost” first appeared at the end of the 19th century, it was introduced into scientific use by Friedrich Wieser. The essence of the theory he put forward is that by producing some goods, we lose a lot of utility from other useful things that could be made using the same amount of resource.
A person cannot have everything he wants. Therefore, you have to make a choice based on the size of your income. In most cases, a person is inclined to choose the product, after purchasing, which will provide maximum satisfaction.
To make a purchase of the chosen product, a person must deny himself the purchase of other things. Those goods that you have to give up when purchasing selected items are the imputed (hidden) costs of acquisition. When purchasing goods, in most cases, a certain amount of money is given in return.
In practice, you have to give up the next desired things that you could buy and spend that same amount.
Businesses, like individuals, must also make their choice on how to spend their own funds. For example, profits can be given to charitable causes, dividends can be paid to persons who own shares. Management must identify priority tasks and deal with them.
Opportunity costs: accounting and economic
Economically, costs reflect the relationship between the release of a product and indicators affecting the production process. If the organization uses its own resources rather than those purchased from other companies, it is more convenient to set product prices for the report in one monetary unit.
purpose of costing– calculation of the difference between the cost of a product and its price for the consumer. These calculations are based on costs during production and the process cycle. Variations in resource and maintenance costs affect the minimum production costs. Figure 1 shows the main types of costs.
Fig. 1 - Production costs
Costs are divided into categories according to different criteria. Let's consider such types of production costs as alternative, economic and accounting.
What are accounting costs?
Accounting costs- financial expenses that the enterprise spends on production needs. This category of costs is the company's payments to specific external suppliers.
Let's consider their classification (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2 - Classification of accounting production costs
Direct and indirect costs
The main categories of accounting costs are direct and indirect. The first type represents the costs of direct production of products, the second - finances spent on the acquisition of funds and production resources. Without taking into account indirect costs, calculation procedures, preparation of invoices and depreciation charges of the company are impracticable.
Accounting costs depreciate fixed assets. Capital investments are always present in any economic sector. Their components: buildings and equipment necessary for production. This is fixed capital.
Structures are exposed to external influences, so they are used for a specific period (several decades), as is equipment (up to two years).
The company's accounting department is obliged to take into account the depreciation of the components of fixed capital and take into account depreciation expenses among the costs.
What are economic costs?
Economic (time) costs- the total costs of business procedures performed by a company in the production of goods or provision of services. For example, resources and raw materials that are not taken into account in the market turnover.
Economic costs are:
- Internal. Costs of using the company's own resources in the production process.
- External. Expenses for purchasing resources for an outsourced production process.
- Permanent. Associated with factors of production that persist for a long time. They are formed as a result of the company having technical devices and are covered even if the latter are not used in production. It is possible to get rid of such expenses 100% only if the company’s work is completely stopped; in this situation, fixed costs become sunk costs. For example, funds spent on advertising, rent of premises, depreciation. Such costs are present even if the firm's profit is zero.
- Variables. Proportional to the volume of the manufactured product. The greater the quantity of goods planned to be produced, the greater the expected costs. For example, finance for the purchase of raw materials, energy, fuel resources, transport. The main percentage of variable costs falls on the purchase of materials and wages of employees.
- Total gross costs– the total amount of costs for the entire production period. Includes fixed and variable costs. The costs of producing a product, which are directly proportional to the increase in volumes of the latter. To find out whether an enterprise is profitable, you need to analyze all changes in costs, for which changes in variable and gross costs are compared with the gross limit.
- Limit– costs for unplanned units of goods or deviation from the recorded total costs with a quantitative increase in production. The value of marginal costs is inversely proportional to the dynamics of the quantity of the product produced.
- Average– total costs for each product produced. They are used, as a rule, for the purpose of comparison with the final price of the product. To calculate this value, total gross variable costs are divided by the quantity of product produced. These costs depend on parameters such as payback, cost, market value and income.
Examples of calculating economic costs:
Let us assume that it is not the accounting staff who are involved in calculating costs, but the owner of the company. His task is to find out whether it is profitable for him to engage in entrepreneurship in this area in the future.
Here you need to approach costs from an economic point of view.
Then, not only real expenses are taken into account, but also those funds that the company did not receive by investing exactly this capital and spending exactly this amount of time.
For example, you are a lawyer by profession. You receive an offer to become the director of legal services in another organization, where you will work with the same efforts as in your company, but receive 12 thousand rubles.
In this case, you take 10 thousand from the income of your business, invest it in a bank deposit and provide yourself with an annual income for this amount. That is, by using this option, you will receive a total profit of 22 thousand, but by choosing to open your own company, you miss this opportunity.
This amount will reflect your implicit costs. In order to calculate economic costs, add up implicit costs with accounting ones: I(e) = I(n) + I(b).
From many calculations, it turns out that by using factors such as time and capital in the most advantageous way, that is, by choosing the best option for using resources, the entrepreneur will receive an income of 82 thousand rubles.
Is the head of his company happy with the work of his company, who receives an accounting profit of 20 thousand, and an economic profit of minus 2 thousand? Naturally not. In this case, resources were misused.
Economic costs in our lives
Economic costs are present in everyone's life every day when they have to make economic choices.
For example, when choosing which transport (road, rail, air) you will use to get to another city, do not forget not only about the explicit costs (ticket price), but also about the implicit ones - the profit that you can earn during the move.
From this point of view, inexpensive transport is often the most expensive. That is why entrepreneurs try to move from one settlement in the other by the fastest, not the cheapest, methods.
Entering educational institution, you need to take into account not only tuition fees, but also the lost income that you lose by giving up another type of activity.
The economic costs for the input supplier are revenues. By paying them, the company excludes the possibility of alternative use of resources.
For example, your company employs a mechanic who knows well Chinese. But you won’t raise his salary based only on this.
However, if a Chinese competitor company appears near you, you will have to increase the income of this worker so that he does not change his place of work.
conclusions
So, we conclude that if resources are used incorrectly, the company “pays” with economic losses.
What happens if you choose the right alternative investment opportunity? The amount of accounting profit will be the same as implicit costs, the income from the resources used will be maximum, and economic costs will begin to correspond to the company’s profit.
Economic profit in this case tends to zero, but the owner of the company should be satisfied with such an indicator, because he does not remain at a loss by choosing this rather than any alternative possibility.
Thus, zero economic profit is the norm and corresponds to average income. Under what circumstances will a firm have an economic profit “in the black”? If it makes the most of the resources used according to a correctly conceived scenario.
Positive economic income is the result of the entrepreneur’s organizational talent, the “bonus” he receives for using the latest technology and technology, proper company management.
The part of it that is greater than accounting profit is called excess profit. It determines which area the main resources will be directed to.
But as the quantity of resources increases, market supply also increases, which reduces the price of the product, bringing economic profit back to zero.
(3
Web-like model
Tasks on the topic: "Fundamentals of a market economy"
Task 1.
The principle of rational farming involves minimizing costs or maximizing utility. Yes or no?
Answer.
Yes. Rational management involves an analysis of costs and benefits, and the optimal solution involves minimizing costs or maximizing benefits (utility).
Task 2.
For students, the alternative value of studying at a university is reflected by:
scholarship amount;
the maximum earnings you can get by quitting school;
parents' expenses for maintaining a student.
Answer.
b. the maximum earnings you can get by quitting school.
Task 3.
The characteristics of an economic good are:
a. ability to satisfy needs;
b. rarity;
c. value;
d. everything stated is correct.
Answer.
d. everything stated is correct.
Task 4.
Seamstress Dotsenko is engaged in individual entrepreneurial activity: she sews fashionable clothes to order. She spends two days on one thing and receives a payment of 60 den. units. As a rule, she also works on weekends. But for the next weekend she was offered a two-day vacation outside the city. The cost of the tour is 100 den. units. Mrs. Dotsenko decided to rest. What will the opportunity cost be?
Answer.
Opportunity costs are equal to the cost of the trip plus the lost opportunity to earn income: 100 + 60 = 160 monetary units.
Task 5.
On the weekend you can go to the mountains to ski. The trip and payment for skiing cost 80 den. units, but you are willing to pay 100 den. units.
will you go to the mountains?
your friend offers to repair his computer for 30 money. You love building computers so much that you would help a friend for free. Will you go to the mountains in this case?
You work on weekends in a restaurant and can earn 100 monetary units. You don’t like this work, so you won’t do it for less than 90 money. Will you go to the mountains in this case?
If you don't go to the mountains, you can visit the exhibition of a famous artist's robot. Admission for students is free, but you dreamed about it so much that you are ready to pay 15 money. Will you go to the mountains in this case?
Answer.
a. The utility from a trip to the mountains is equal to 100 monetary units, the costs are equal to 80 monetary units, since 100>80, then the trip is justified.
b. The utility from the trip is 100 monetary units, the costs are 80 + 30 = 110 monetary units. Since 100<110, то поездка не оправдана.
c. The utility from the trip is 100 monetary units, the total costs are 80 + (100-90) = 90 monetary units. Since 100>90, the trip is justified.
d. Since 100>80+15, the trip is justified.
Task 6.
Programmer Ivanova earns 10 monetary units per hour. Her mother is retired. In the store for beef it costs 8 den. per kilogram you need to stand for an hour, for beef it costs 12 den. There is no queue for a kilogram. At what volume of purchases is it rational for programmer Ivanova to purchase cheaper beef? Her mother?
Answer.
The opportunity value of Ivanova Sr.’s time is zero. Therefore, for her, the rational choice is a queue. The alternative value of programmer Ivanova’s time is 10 monetary units/hour. Therefore, the full price of beef at 8 monetary units/kg is equal to 8x+10, where x is the purchase volume.
Let's solve the inequality:
So, for programmer Ivanova, when buying meat over 2.5 kg, standing in line is rational.
Task 7.
Construct a production possibilities curve (PPC) for a fictitious country using the following data.
Can the country's economy produce 2 million pieces of investment goods and 15 million pieces of consumer goods?
Can the country's economy produce 4 million pieces of investment goods and 3 million pieces of consumer goods?
Answer.
Let's construct a curve point by point.
1. 2 million pieces of investment goods and 15 million pieces of consumer goods correspond to point K on the graph. Since point K lies outside the CPV, the country does not have enough resources for this option. This option is not possible.
2. Point F lies to the left of the CPV. This option is possible for the country, but when it is implemented, some of the resources will not be used, so this option is ineffective.
Task 8.
An agricultural enterprise that specializes in growing vegetables has two greenhouses. In one you can grow 2000 tons of cucumbers or 1500 tons of tomatoes per year. About the second, it is known that the opportunity cost of 1 ton of cucumbers is equal to 0.5 tons of tomatoes with a maximum tomato yield of 600 tons.
1. Determine the opportunity cost of producing cucumbers in the first greenhouse.
2. In which greenhouse is it more profitable to grow tomatoes? cucumbers?
3. Build the enterprise control center.
Answer.
In the first greenhouse, the enterprise can grow 2,000 tons of cucumbers or 1,500 tons of tomatoes. This means that by growing cucumbers, the company loses the opportunity to grow tomatoes.
Opportunity cost of 2000 tons of cucumbers = 1500 tons of tomatoes or
1 ton of cucumbers = 1500/2000 = 0.75 tons of tomatoes;
1 ton of tomatoes = 2000/1500 = 1.33 tons of cucumbers.
First, let's calculate the opportunity cost of growing tomatoes in the second greenhouse:
1 ton of cucumbers = 0.5 tons of tomatoes (according to condition);
1 ton of tomatoes = 1/0.5 = 2 tons of cucumbers.
When comparing the opportunity costs of products in each greenhouse, we can conclude: it is worth growing tomatoes in the first greenhouse, and cucumbers in the second.
To construct the CPV, it is necessary to calculate the maximum volume of products that can be grown in each greenhouse.
Second greenhouse: maximum tomato yield is 600 tons; if you grow only cucumbers, you can harvest: 600x2=1200 tons of cucumbers. (1 ton of tomatoes = 2 tons of cucumbers).
Let's create a table of all possible options production.
A: We grow only tomatoes in both greenhouses. 1500+600=2100 tons
B: the first greenhouse grows tomatoes, the second - cucumbers.
C: the first one is cucumbers, the second one is tomatoes.
D: cucumbers are grown in both greenhouses. 2000 + 1200 = 3200 tons.
Option C does not belong to the CPV, since the CPV must have a convex or straight shape, and points on the CPV are production options in which all possible resources are used.
Task 9.
On the circuit diagram of a mixed economy, show the following flows, market objects and subjects:
a private cafe paid for telephone calls;
the pensioner paid for telephone calls;
the joint-stock enterprise has made a profit;
a former employee of a private enterprise received a pension;
Ivanenko family;
Sidorenko received an education;
Answer.
Problem 10.
The graph shows the conditional CPI of a certain country, which determines the correspondence between the production of personal consumption goods and public consumption goods. Determine which of the points on the graph corresponds to the type of economic system.
Answer.
Market economy – C;
Planned economy – B;
Mixed economy - A.
Problem 11.
The company plans to release the new kind products and considers three production technologies.
1. What technology will an enterprise choose if it is interested in using fewer resources?
2. What technology will an enterprise choose if its goal is to obtain maximum profit?
3. Let us assume that the price of the resource “labor” has decreased to 2 monetary units. per unit, and the resource “capital” increased to 6 monetary units per unit. How will the company's choice change?
Answer.
|
Resources |
Price per unit of resource (monetary units) |
Required amount of resources (units) |
|||||
|
Technology 1 |
Expenses |
Technology 2 |
Expenses |
Technology 3 |
Expenses |
||
technology No. 2 or No. 3, since these technologies use the least resources.
With the same output of products, those enterprises that have lower costs receive greater profits, therefore technology No. 2.
if resource prices change, the costs will be equal to:
Technology 1: 2x6+2x1+6x2=26
Technology 2: 2x2+2x2+6x3=26
Technology 3: 2x3+2x1+6x3=26
That is, all technologies have the same efficiency and an enterprise can choose any one.
Object economic analysis In each country there is a shortage (limitation, rarity) of resources and an alternative choice for their use.
Because resources are scarce, the economy cannot produce unlimited goods and services. Moreover, decisions must be made about which goods and services to produce and which to discard.
In the vast majority of situations there are more than two choices. In such a situation, a rationally acting economic subject evaluates the benefits he receives from each alternative use of resources and chooses the most profitable alternative for himself.
At the same time, he is deprived (loses) the benefit from another (alternative) use of available resources. Consequently, the costs (costs) of obtaining the chosen good will be the highest benefit from the rejected options.
In other words, alternative (opportunity) costs or selection price is the benefit from the best of the unrealized alternative possibilities.
Alternative (opportunity) costs of production- is the cost of producing one good, expressed in the quantity of another good, the production of which must be abandoned in order to produce this good.
In other words, the economic costs of obtaining a certain good are other benefits that could be obtained using the same resources, but which will have to be abandoned if the choice is made in favor of this good. That's why they are called opportunity costs or opportunity cost.
For example, let's estimate the alternative costs of studying a student at a university. First of all, having paid for tuition, the student refuses to buy any goods (clothing, etc.). In addition, studying requires time during which the student could earn money, just relax, etc. He refuses all this, deciding to study. Therefore, the economic costs of training also include unearned money.
Thus, in order to evaluate the full economic costs of obtaining a certain benefit, it is necessary to sum up all the losses (in the form of other unreceived benefits) that one has to bear in connection with this.
Taking into account alternative costs when making economic choices is the most important principle of microeconomic analysis.
On the transformation curve we see that with each additional unit of one good, more and more other goods have to be sacrificed, i.e. opportunity costs increase.
What is reflected in h on the basis of increasing opportunity (opportunity) costs , which states: in conditions of limited and specific resources, opportunity costs increase steadily as the output of any of the alternative types of products increases. Those. Under conditions of full use of resources and unchanged technology, for each additional unit of one good one has to give up an ever-increasing amount of other goods.
Economic sense The law of increasing opportunity costs boils down to the following: economic resources are not suitable for their full use in the production of alternative products.
Effect of the law increase in alternative (imputed) production costs is manifested in the fact that the production possibilities curve has convex shape.
When we try to increase the production of some goods, we have to switch from the production of other goods resources that are less and less suitable for this kind of use. And this switching operation becomes increasingly deeper and more expensive.
There is a law closely related to the above - law of diminishing returns (productivity). It can be formulated as follows: a continuous increase in the use of one resource in combination with a constant amount of other resources at a certain stage leads to a cessation of growth in returns from it, and then to its reduction.
This law is again based on the incomplete interchangeability of resources. After all, replacing one of them with another (others) is possible up to a certain limit. For example, if four resources: land, labor, entrepreneurial abilities, knowledge - are left unchanged and a resource such as capital is increased (for example, the number of machines in a factory with a constant number of machine operators), then at a certain stage a limit comes, beyond which further growth the specified production factor is becoming less and less. The productivity of a machine operator servicing an increasing number of machines decreases, the percentage of defects increases, machine downtime increases, etc.
Thus, the main economic task is choosing the most effective option for allocating factors of production in order to solve the problem of optimal opportunities, which is determined by the unlimited needs of society and limited resources.
The problem of efficiency is the main problem of economic theory, which explores the ways of best using or applying scarce resources in order to achieve the greatest or maximum possible satisfaction of the unlimited needs of society (the goal of production). Thus, economics is the science of efficiency, of the effective use of rare resources.
Any production is effective , if given resources it is impossible to increase the output of one good without reducing the output of another, therefore, any point lying on the production possibilities curve is efficient.
The distribution of resources in which it is impossible to increase the output of one economic good without decreasing the output of another is called Pareto-efficient or Pareto-optimal (named after the famous Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto).
Economic efficiency characterizes the relationship between the number of units of rare resources that are used in the production process and the amount of any product obtained as a result of this process, i.e. covers the problem "INPUT - OUTPUT" ().
There are also two types of costs of higher education: direct and alternative. Let us consider each of these types in more detail using examples from modern society and personal experience.
First, let's take a look at direct costs, which can be completely attributed to a product or service. These include:
- * cost of raw materials and supplies used in the production and sale of goods and services;
- * wages of workers (piecework) directly involved in the production of goods;
- * other direct costs (all costs that are in one way or another directly related to the product).
This definition is directly related to higher education, upon receipt of which direct costs occur. An example would be students who, for one reason or another, study on a commercial basis. Each semester they must deposit a certain amount of money to continue their studies. Do not forget that with successful studies and active participation in the social and scientific life of the university it is possible to switch to a budgetary basis of education. In addition, there may be costs for the purchase of stationery and additional educational literature necessary for training. Every month students must replenish social card for the purpose of unlimited travel.
Opportunity Cost
This term was introduced by Friedrich von Wieser, an Austrian economist, in 1914. By definition, opportunity costs mean lost benefits (profit, income) as a result of choosing one of the alternative options for using resources and, thereby, refusing other opportunities. The amount of lost profits is determined by the utility (good or service that satisfies human needs) of the most valuable of the discarded alternatives.
From your own example, you can see that in full-time education, all the time is devoted to classes. Each module/semester the schedule changes, which does not allow you to get a permanent job or attend additional classes, as there is not enough time. Because of this, many students miss out on the opportunity to earn extra money and gain experience while working. Also, some cannot afford to attend various sections to develop their talents, or special courses aimed at training future specialists. As a result, they do not develop in other directions only in the one they chose at the university.
It can be assumed that in modern world Even more discoveries could be made in various areas of our lives, but due to lack of time or devoting it to other activities, the scientific and technological process does not occur as quickly as we would like.
An alternative option could be extramural training, allowing most devote time not to study, but to personal interests. Unfortunately, this type of training is not always complete and most often does not bring as much knowledge and experience as full-time training.