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How Economic Decisions Are Made

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How Economic Decisions Are Made
Penelope Carter
ECO 212
April 2, 2012
David Smith

How Economic Decisions Are Made
If 10 people with 10 different occupations are asked to define economics, one would receive 10 different answers because the concept of economics confuses people. “Economics is the study of the choices consumers, business managers, and government officials make to attain their goals, given their scarce resources,” (Hubbard & O’Brien, 2010, p. 4). Oftentimes, people do not realize how many economic decisions they regularly make. People make daily economic decisions by comparing marginal benefits and marginal costs in conjunction with their current economic market system.
Marginal Benefit and Marginal Cost
I can recall several situations in which I had to make a decision by comparing the marginal benefit with the marginal cost. In economics, the word marginal means “extra” or “additional;” therefore, an “additional benefit” of something a person wants usually comes with an “additional cost” or consequence of acquiring it, (Hubbard & O’Brien, 2010, p. 6). The first car I owned was a 1987 Ford Taurus I purchased for less than 1000 dollars in 2003. It worked just fine for about a month and gradually parts started breaking. After a year of ownership, I realized I had spent twice as much as it cost to buy it in repairs. I had to decide if the marginal benefit of buying a new car and no longer pouring cash into fixing my old car was worth the marginal cost of acquiring a car note for next six years. In the end, I decided the marginal benefit was definitely worth the marginal cost. The only incentive that could have made a difference is if someone offered to purchase the car on my behalf, which was highly unlikely.
Principles of Economics
The basic principle of economics answers three questions: what goods and services will be produced, how will

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