Economic Information for Beginners
By Jodi Beggs, About.com Guide
- What Is Economics?
- Fields of Economics
- Advice for Economics Students
- Supply and Demand
- Elasticity
- Price System
- Externalities and Market Failures
- Market Structure
- Opportunity Costs
- Financial Costs and Decision Making
- Economic Growth and Real GDP
- Unemployment and the Labor Market
- Inflation
- Interest Rates
- Exchange Rates
- Fiscal Policy and Spending
- Taxation
- Famous Economists
- Economics Graduate School
- Econometrics
What Is Economics?
This section answers questions such as: What is Economics? Why should I study Economics? What do Economists do?
- What Is Economics?
- Glossary of Economics Terms
- Why Study Economics?
- Why Get an Economics Ph.D?
- Is Economics Autistic? Can it Be Reformed?
Fields of Economics
The Fields of Economics section examines the various kinds of problems that economists work on.
- What Are the Various Subfields of Economics?
- What Is Econometrics?
- What Is Microeconomics?
- What Is Meant by Economic Schools of Thought?
- What Are Game Theory and Bargaining Theory?
- What Is Experimental Economics?
- What Is International Economics?
- What Is Macroeconomics?
Advice for Economics Students
Are you an economics student that needs general advice? Look no further.
- How To Study For Your Economics Exam
- How To Write Different Types of Economics Exams
- How To Get the Most out of your Economics Class
- How To Ace Your Econometrics Test
- How To Taking Reading Notes for Your Economics Class
- How To Take Lecture Notes in Your Economics Class
Supply and Demand
When one thinks of economics, the concepts of "supply" and "demand" come immediately to mind. But what do we mean by supply and demand? How to we use these concepts?
- Demand - The Economics of Demand
- Supply - The Economics of Supply
- Supply and Demand - The Basics
- Supply & Demand Practice Question
- 10 Supply and Demand Practice Questions
- Market Distortions
- The Effects of a Black Market Using Supply and Demand
- Bottle Water Bans and Substitution Effects
Elasticity
Once we understand supply and demand, we need to move on to the concept of elasticity. Elasticity helps us understand how firm and consumers alter their decisions in response to changing prices.
- A Beginner's Guide to Elasticity
- Price Elasticity of Demand
- Price Elasticity of Supply
- Income Elasticity of Demand
- Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand
- Arc Elasticity
- Using Calculus To Calculate Price Elasticity of Demand
- Using Calculus To Calculate Price Elasticity of Supply
- Using Calculus To Calculate Income Elasticity of Demand
- Using Calculus To Calculate Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand
- Elasticity Practice Question
- What's the Price Elasticity of Demand for Gasoline?
- Adventures in Downward Sloping Demand Curves and Elasticity
Price System
A look at the role prices play to the economy and to individual decision making. Who determines prices, and how?
- How Markets Use Information To Set Prices
- Why Does a Stock Go Down in Price When There Is a Big Sell Off?
- When Stock Prices Go Down, Where Does the Money Go?
- Why Don't Prices Decline During A Recession?
- Do Changes in Stock Prices Cause Recessions?
Externalities and Market Failures
Supply, demand and the price system work perfectly when no costs or benefits spill over to third parties. What happens, though, if this is not the case? What happens when externalities or other market failures occur?
- Promoting Economic Growth and Reducing Externalities - Pigou Club
- Banning Lightbulbs to Combat an Externality
- The Logic of Collective Action
Market Structure
An examination of these various ways markets can be structured, such as monopolies and oligopolies.
- What You Need to Know About Monopolies
- Federal Efforts to Control Monopoly
- Monopolies, Mergers, and Restructuring
Opportunity Costs
An examination of the role opportunity costs play in economic analysis and the role opportunity costs play in individual decision making.
- What are Opportunity Costs?
- Opportunity Costs and Tradeoffs
- Baseball Players and Opportunity Costs
- A Season Later: Baseball Players and Opportunity Costs
Financial Costs and Decision Making
Microeconomics has a number of cost measures such as 'marginal cost' and 'average variable cost'. What do these cost measures mean? How do we use them?
- Understanding Costs - How to Understand and Calculate Cost Measures
- Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost Practice Question
Economic Growth and Real GDP
How do we measure the size of the economy? And why do economies grow... or fail to grow?
- How Do You Measure the Size of the Economy?
- What's the Difference Between Nominal and Real?
- Will Hurricane Katrina increase GDP?
- Recession? Depression? What's the difference?
- Does the Superbowl Predict Economic Growth?
- The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic Growth
Unemployment and the Labor Market
An examination of unemployment, the unemployment rate and jobs. How are jobs created and destroyed in an economy? Why do we have unemployment?
- Would 0% Unemployment Be a Good Thing?
- Globalization, Unemployment and Recessions
- Why Do We Use the Unemployment Rate?
- Has Employment Decreased Over The Last 25 Years?
- Unemployment Insurance in the United States
Inflation
What causes the overall level of prices in an economy to rise... or fall?
- What Is Inflation?
- Why Not Just Print More Money?
- Cost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull Inflation
- Should We Adjust Prices For Inflation?
- Purchasing Power Parity: Link Between Exchange Rates and Inflation
- What Is Deflation and How Can it Be Prevented?
- Why Don't Prices Decline During A Recession?
Interest Rates
Interest Rates play an important role in economics, as they affect purchasing and consumption decisions made by consumers, firms and governments.
- What Are Interest Rates?
- What's the Difference Between all the Interest Rates in the Newspaper?
- What Happens if Interest Rates Go To Zero?
- What's the Difference Between Nominal and Real?
- Calculating and Understanding Real Interest Rates
- A Beginner's Guide to Economic Indicators
Exchange Rates
Another concept introduced early in economics is exchange rates - particularly exchange rates between currencies. But where do these values come from? Why is the U.S. dollar worth what it is?
- What Determines an Exchange Rate
- Exchange Rates - What to Use as the Base
- Purchasing Power Parity: Link Between Exchange Rates and Inflation
- A Beginner's Guide to Purchasing Power Parity Theory
- What Is the Difference Between Relative PPP and Absolute PPP?
- Exchange Rates and Commodity Prices
- The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates
- Is the Canadian Dollar Going Up in Value, or Is the U.S. Dollar Going Down?
- What Is Arbitrage?
- How Markets Use Information To Set Prices
Fiscal Policy and Spending
How does government spending impact the economy? Can fiscal policy be used as a mechanism to promote economic growth?
- Fiscal Policy: Budget and Taxes
- Why Do Government Budget Deficits Grow During Recessions?
- Will Higher Taxes on Gasoline Lead to Higher Government Spending?
- What Are The Key Ingredients of Fiscal Stimulus
- Fiscal Stimulus - Unlikely To Work in the Real World
Taxation
What types of taxes are there in our economy? Who pays them? How do various taxes affect the economy?
- The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic Growth
- How Good Intentions Lead to Crushing Marginal Tax Rates on the Working Poor
- FairTax - Income Taxes vs. Sales Taxes
- Should Income Tax Rates Depend on Lifetime Earnings?
- Payroll Tax Reduction - One Approach to a Carbon Tax
- Do Richer People Pay a Higher Proportion of Tax Under a Flat Tax?
- Gas Tax and Carbon Tax FAQ
- Oregon's Mileage Tax: A Truly Bad Idea
- How Do High Small Business Corporate Tax Rates Hurt The Economy?
Famous Economists
Information about famous economists and winners of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
- Who Are These Nobel Prize Winning Economists Supporting Bush or Kerry?
- The Life and Works of David Ricardo - A Biography of David Ricardo
- The Life and Works of Irving Fisher - A Biography of Irving Fisher
- The Life and Works of Jean-Baptiste Say - A Biography of Jean-Baptiste Say
- The Life and Works of Adam Smith - A Biography of Adam Smith
Economics Graduate School
Thinking of doing graduate work in Economics? See these resources before you apply.
- Why Get an Economics Ph.D?
- Choosing a Graduate School in Economics
- Economics Graduate School Atmosphere
- Where Can I Get Economics Department Rankings?
- Which Graduate Programs Are Keynesian?
- One Student's PhD Economics Experience
- Books to Study Before Going to Graduate School in Economics
- More Books for Economics Graduate School
Econometrics
If you're a student who is required to complete an econometrics project, you will want to see the following resources.