Economics 1

Crash Course Video 1

19 cards·by tgrdeets

What are some things that the study of economics is not

The study of money or how to get rich / the study of the stock market / men in bow ties making predictions about the economy (though that i

The study of economics is basically about what two things?

People and choices

What can understanding economics forever change about you?

The way you think and problem solve. (

According to the host, there is actually a cost to watching YouTube videos. What is it?

You could be doing something else with that time / You could be watching other videos besides the one you chose.

Define opportunity cost.

It’s what you give up in order to do something else.

What are the two most important assumptions in all of economics?

Scarcity (people have unlimited wants but limited resources) and everything has a cost.

Why is John Green not hosting the series?

He made an economic choice that his time was better spent writing books / that theopportunity/cost of doing the series was too high.

A number of solutions were mentioned, such as crushing all the cars to prevent accidents.Whateconomic concept shows these are absurd?

Their costs outweighed their benefits.

What three things were identified as possible opportunity costs for building aircraft carriers?

Hospitals, schools, and roads

Scarcity means that the nation must do what?

Make choices.

Which president was cited as pointing out the opportunity costs of military spending?

Eisenhower

What two institutions were mentioned as being unable to solve all of our problems by themselves?

The free market and the government

How have states changed their incentives to try to make public universities serve their students better?

used to pay colleges based on the number of students enrolled; now its based on the number of students completing courses or earning degrees

If an incentive is poorly designed, what might happen?

It can backfire, not producing the result desired.

Why is “spend more money” a flawed approach to improving American health care?

We already spend double what other nations do, and for all this spending, we get worse results. (

Why did Vietnam’s “bounty on rat tails” program actually increase the rat population when the goal was to decrease it?

The incentive was not set up properly / People released rats to breed after they had cut off the tails, since this would produce more rats a

What does macroeconomics focus on?

The economy as a whole / the whole nation’s economic activity

What is the other major branch of economics?

Microeconomics

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