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Economics is the study of how people make choices when resources are scarce.

Maya skips a $50 shift at work to attend a free concert. What is her opportunity cost?

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Smart choice!

Right! Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative given up, here her $50 in wages.

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Her opportunity cost is the $50 she gave up. Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative you forgo, even when something has no price tag.

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Why does scarcity exist even in very wealthy countries?

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Exactly! Scarcity is the basic gap between limited resources and unlimited wants, and it affects everyone.

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Scarcity exists because resources are limited while human wants are not. A temporary shortage in a store is a different thing.

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The price of coffee rises. What happens to the demand curve for coffee?

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Correct! A change in the good's own price causes a movement along the curve, a change in quantity demanded.

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The curve stays put and we move along it. Only factors other than the good's own price, like income or tastes, shift the demand curve.

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Which event would shift the demand curve for electric cars to the right?

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Yes! Gasoline cars are a substitute, so pricier gas makes electric cars more attractive at every price.

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A rise in gasoline prices shifts demand right, because it makes a substitute more expensive. Changes in a good's own price only move along the curve.

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A city sets a maximum rent below the market equilibrium. What is the most likely result?

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Right! A binding price ceiling raises quantity demanded and lowers quantity supplied, causing a shortage.

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It causes a shortage. Below equilibrium, more people want apartments while landlords offer fewer.

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Scratch the card to reveal an economics fact

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The minimum wage is set above the equilibrium wage. Economists call it a…

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Correct! A minimum wage is a price floor: a legal minimum price, here for labor.

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It's a price floor, a legal minimum price. A ceiling is a legal maximum, like rent control.

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When the price of a good rises 10%, sales fall 30%. Demand for this good is…

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Yes! Quantity changed more than price, so demand is elastic, with an elasticity of 3.

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Demand is elastic: the 30% drop in quantity is bigger than the 10% price rise. Inelastic demand barely reacts to price.

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Why is demand for insulin very inelastic?

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Right! Goods that are necessities with few substitutes have inelastic demand: people buy them almost regardless of price.

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Insulin is essential and has few substitutes, so people keep buying it even when the price rises. That is inelastic demand.

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Which of these is counted in this year's US GDP?

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Correct! GDP counts the market value of final goods and services newly produced within a country in a year.

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The new house counts. GDP measures new final production, so used goods, stocks, and transfers like gifts are left out.

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Nominal GDP grew 5% while prices rose 3%. About how much did real GDP grow?

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Yes! Real growth is roughly nominal growth minus inflation: 5% − 3% = 2%.

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Real GDP grew about 2%. Real values remove inflation, so 5% nominal growth minus 3% inflation leaves about 2%.

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Flip the card to reveal a surprising fact

Hungary's 1946 hyperinflation was the worst ever: prices doubled roughly every 15 hours.

Did you know?

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National unemployment rate

Price of one pizza shop's pizza

Country's inflation rate

A family's monthly budget

Total US GDP

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Inflation was 4% last year. What does that tell you?

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Smart choice!

Right! Inflation measures the rise in the overall price level; some prices rise more, some less, some fall.

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It means the average price level rose by 4%. Individual prices vary: some rose much more, others fell.

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Zimbabwe printed huge amounts of money in the 2000s. What was the main result?

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Smart choice!

Correct! Printing money without more output caused hyperinflation, with prices doubling in about a day at the peak.

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Prices rose out of control in hyperinflation. More money chasing the same goods raises prices instead of making people richer.

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To fight high inflation, the Federal Reserve will most likely…

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Yes! Higher rates make borrowing costlier, cooling spending and easing price pressures.

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The Fed raises interest rates. Costlier borrowing slows spending, which brings inflation down; lowering rates does the opposite.

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Congress cuts taxes and increases highway spending during a recession. This is an example of…

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Right! Fiscal policy is government taxing and spending, decided by Congress and the President.

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It's fiscal policy: changes in taxes and government spending. Monetary policy is run by the Federal Reserve.

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Which person is counted as unemployed in official US statistics?

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Correct! To be unemployed you must be without a job and actively looking for one.

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The laid-off worker applying for jobs is unemployed. People not looking for work, like retirees or most students, are outside the labor force.

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Drag the slider to reveal the answer

Why are diamonds pricier than water?

It's the diamond-water paradox: water is vital but plentiful, diamonds are scarce, and price follows marginal value.

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A US tariff on imported steel is mainly paid by…

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Smart choice!

Yes! A tariff is a tax collected from domestic importers, and much of it is passed on to domestic buyers as higher prices.

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US importers pay it, and they pass much of it on to American buyers. A tariff is a tax on imports collected at home.

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Country A makes both cloth and wine faster than Country B. Can both gain from trade?

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Right! Each country should specialize where its opportunity cost is lowest; both can then gain from trading.

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Yes, both gain thanks to comparative advantage. What matters is lower opportunity cost, not producing more of everything.

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You paid $15 for a movie and hate it after 20 minutes. What should an economist do?

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Smart choice!

Exactly! The $15 is a sunk cost; only future costs and benefits should guide your choice.

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Leave if your time has better uses. The $15 is a sunk cost you can't recover, so it shouldn't affect the decision.

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A bakery decides whether to bake one more cake. Which comparison should it make?

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Right! Thinking at the margin means comparing the extra benefit of one more unit with its extra cost.

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It compares the extra (marginal) cost with the extra revenue. Decisions are made at the margin, not on totals or past costs.

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A worker's pay rose 2% while prices rose 5%. What happened to her real wage?

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Correct! Her pay buys less than before: 2% − 5% is a real loss of about 3%.

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Her real wage fell by about 3%. Prices outpaced her raise, so she can afford less than before.

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How did you like this economics quiz?

 
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Perfect! Every answer right!

21 of 21 right

Challenge your friends to think like economists!

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See your answers · all right
  1. Question 1:

    Maya skips a $50 shift at work to attend a free concert. What is her opportunity cost?

  2. Question 2:

    Why does scarcity exist even in very wealthy countries?

  3. Question 3:

    The price of coffee rises. What happens to the demand curve for coffee?

  4. Question 4:

    Which event would shift the demand curve for electric cars to the right?

  5. Question 5:

    A city sets a maximum rent below the market equilibrium. What is the most likely result?

  6. Question 6:

    The minimum wage is set above the equilibrium wage. Economists call it a…

  7. Question 7:

    When the price of a good rises 10%, sales fall 30%. Demand for this good is…

  8. Question 8:

    Why is demand for insulin very inelastic?

  9. Question 9:

    Which of these is counted in this year's US GDP?

  10. Question 10:

    Nominal GDP grew 5% while prices rose 3%. About how much did real GDP grow?

  11. Lightning round 1

  12. Question 11:

    Inflation was 4% last year. What does that tell you?

  13. Question 12:

    Zimbabwe printed huge amounts of money in the 2000s. What was the main result?

  14. Question 13:

    To fight high inflation, the Federal Reserve will most likely…

  15. Question 14:

    Congress cuts taxes and increases highway spending during a recession. This is an example of…

  16. Question 15:

    Which person is counted as unemployed in official US statistics?

  17. Question 16:

    A US tariff on imported steel is mainly paid by…

  18. Question 17:

    Country A makes both cloth and wine faster than Country B. Can both gain from trade?

  19. Question 18:

    You paid $15 for a movie and hate it after 20 minutes. What should an economist do?

  20. Question 19:

    A bakery decides whether to bake one more cake. Which comparison should it make?

  21. Question 20:

    A worker's pay rose 2% while prices rose 5%. What happened to her real wage?

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