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Read Five Books Free! Government intervention doesn't always work out so well. Indeed, economists warn that government intervention can fail as well. Government failure occurs when intervention fails to improve—or actually worsens—economic outcomes. The possibility of government failure is sufficient warning that there is no guarantee that the visible hand of government will be any better than the invisible hand of the marketplace.

Page 16 Economists try to figure out when markets work well and when they are likely to fail. We also try to predict whether specific government interventions will improve economic outcomes—or make them worse.

Macro versus Micro The study of economics is typically divided into two parts: macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics focuses on the behavior of an entire economy—the big picture.

The essential concern of macroeconomics is to understand and improve the performance of the economy as a whole. Microeconomics is concerned with the details of this big picture. In microeconomics we focus on the individuals, firms, and government agencies that actually make up the larger economy. Our interest here is in the behavior of individual economic actors. What are their goals? How can they best achieve these goals with their limited resources? How will they respond to various incentives and opportunities?

A primary concern of macroeconomics, for example, is to determine the impact of aggregate consumer spending on total output, employment, and prices. Very little attention is devoted to the actual content of consumer spending or its determinants.

Microeconomics, on the other hand, focuses on the specific expenditure decisions of individual consumers and the forces tastes, prices, incomes that influence those decisions. In macroeconomics we want to know what determines the aggregate rate of business investment and how those expenditures influence the nation's total output, employment, and prices. In microeconomics we focus on the decisions of individual businesses regarding the rate of production, the choice of factors of production, and the pricing of specific goods.

In reality, macroeconomic outcomes depend on micro behavior, and micro behavior is affected by macro outcomes. Hence we cannot fully understand how an economy works until we understand how all the participants behave and why they behave as they do. But just as you can drive a car without knowing how its engine is constructed, you can observe how an economy runs without completely disassembling it. In macroeconomics we observe that the car goes faster when the accelerator is depressed and that it slows when the brake is applied.

That is all we need to know in most situations. There are times, however, when the car breaks down. When it does, we have to know something more about how the pedals work. This leads us into micro studies. How does each part work? Which ones can or should be fixed? Theory versus Reality The distinction between macroeconomics and microeconomics is one of many simplifications we make in studying economic behavior.

The economy is much too vast and complex to describe and explain in one course or one lifetime. Accordingly, we focus on basic relationships, ignoring unnecessary detail. What this means is that we formulate theories, or models, of economic behavior and then use those theories to evaluate and design economic policy.

The economic models that economists use to explain market behavior are like maps. To get from New York to Los Angeles, you don't need to know all the details of topography that lie between those two cities. Knowing where the interstate highways are is probably enough. An interstate route map therefore provides enough information to get you to your destination. Page 17 The same kind of simplification is used in economic models of consumer behavior.

Such models assert that when the price of a good increases, consumers will buy less of it. In reality, however, people may buy more of a good at increased prices, especially if those high prices create a certain snob appeal or if prices are expected to increase still further.

In predicting consumer responses to price increases, we typically ignore such possibilities by assuming that the price of the good in question is the only thing that changes. If instead we described consumer responses to increased prices in any and all circumstances allowing everything to change at once , every prediction would be accompanied by a book full of exceptions and qualifications.

We would look more like lawyers than economists. Although the assumption of ceteris paribus makes it easier to formulate economic theory and policy, it also increases the risk of error. Obviously, if other things do change in significant ways, our predictions and policies may fail.

But like weather forecasters, we continue to make predictions, knowing that occasional failure is inevitable. In so doing, we are motivated by the conviction that it is better to be approximately right than to be dead wrong. Politics versus Economics Politicians cannot afford to be quite so complacent about predictions.

Policy decisions must be made every day. And a politician's continued tenure in office may depend on being more than approximately right.

Economists contribute to those policy decisions by offering measures of economic impact and predictions of economic behavior. But in the real world, those measures and predictions always contain a substantial margin of error.

Even if the future were known, economic policy could not rely completely on economic theory. There are always political choices to be made. Political forces are a necessary ingredient in economic policy decisions. That is not to say that all political decisions are right. It does suggest, however, that economic policies may not always conform to economic theory. Both politics and economics are involved in the continuing debate regarding the merits of a laissez faire approach versus government intervention.

In the s the Reagan administration pushed the pendulum a bit closer to laissez faire by cutting taxes, reducing government regulation, and encouraging market incentives. President Clinton thought the government should play a more active role in resolving basic economic issues. President George W. Bush favored less government intervention and more reliance on the market mechanism. The debate over market reliance versus government intervention again heated up in the presidential campaign, especially on issues of health care, job protection, and climate change.

The debate over markets versus government persists in part because of gaps in our economic understanding. For over years economists have been arguing about what makes the economy tick. None of the competing theories have performed spectacularly well. Indeed, few economists have successfully predicted major economic events with any consistency. Even annual forecasts of inflation, unemployment, and output are regularly in error. In fact, economists are still arguing over the causes of not only the Great Recession of — but even the Great Depression of the s!

Did government failure or market failure cause and deepen those economic setbacks? Page 18 Modest Expectations In view of all these debates and uncertainties, you should not expect to learn everything there is to know about the economy in this text or course.

We want you to develop some perspective on economic behavior and an understanding of basic principles. With this foundation, you should acquire a better view of how the economy works. Political debates on tax and budget policies should take on more meaning. You may even develop some insights that you can apply toward running a business or planning a career.

That's why President Obama made health care reform such a high priority in his first presidential year. He wanted to increase access for the millions of Americans who didn't have health insurance and raise the level of service for people with low incomes and preexisting illnesses.

He wasn't proposing to reduce health care for those who already had adequate care. Were health care a free good, everyone would have welcomed President Obama's reforms. So the mix of output resembled point X1, where H1 amount of health care is produced and O1 of other goods. At H1 millions of Americans had no health insurance and were not receiving adequate care.

So, President Obama wanted to increase health care access and services. His goal was to increase the quantity of health services from H1 to H2. Increasing health care services from H1 to H2 requires a reduction in other goods from O1 to O2. Page 19 If health care were a free good, no one would object to raising the quantity of health care from H1 to H2. But health care isn't a free good: It absorbs resources that could be used to produce other goods.

We can't move the mix of output from X1 to X2 i. The production possibilities curve tells us we can get more health care only by reducing the output of other goods i. At X3 we have more health care H2 but fewer other goods O2 than we had before. That's the policy dilemma. What other goods will be sacrificed and who will absorb the loss? Scarcity results when our wants exceed our resources.

LO1 The production possibilities curve illustrates the limits to output dictated by available factors of production and technology. Points on the curve represent the different output mixes that we may choose. LO1 All production entails an opportunity cost: We can produce more of output A only if we produce less of output B. The implied reduction in output B is the opportunity cost of output A. It also encompasses choices made about environmental protection.

The optimal answers will vary with social values and production capabilities. LO3 The three questions can be answered by the market mechanism, by a system of central planning, or by a mixed system of market signals and government intervention. LO4 Price signals are the key feature of the market mechanism.

Consumers signal their desires for specific goods by paying a price for those goods. Producers respond to the price signal by assembling factors of production to produce the desired output. LO4 Market failure occurs when the market mechanism generates the wrong mix of output, undesirable methods of production, or an inequitable distribution of income. Government intervention may fail, too, however, by not improving or even worsening economic outcomes.

LO5 The study of economics focuses on the broad question of resource allocation. Macroeconomics is concerned with allocating the resources of an entire economy to achieve broad economic goals e. Microeconomics focuses on the behavior and goals of individual market participants.

LO1 2. What opportunity costs did you incur in reading this chapter? LO2 3. LO3 4. Why might it be necessary to reduce consumer spending in order to attain faster economic growth? Would it be worth the sacrifice? LO2 5. Is that optimal? LO3 6. LO3 7.

If taxes on the rich were raised to provide more housing for the poor, how would the willingness to work be affected? What would happen to total output?

LO3 8. What kind of knowledge must central planners possess to manage an economy efficiently? LO4 9. Will we ever get there? LO5 Iceland has no military.

LO2 2. What percentage of total U. Draw a production possibilities curve based on Table 1. What is the opportunity cost of increasing missile production LO2 1. From 0 to 50? From 50 to ? Assume that it takes four hours of labor time to paint a room and two hours to sand a floor. If all 24 hours were spent painting, a How many rooms could be painted by one worker? LO1 5. If two workers each spend 24 hours painting, a How many rooms could be painted by both workers?

LO2 6. North Korea has a population of 25 million people, of whom 1. South Korea has an army of , out of a population of 49 million. What percentage of the population is in the military in LO2 1. North Korea? South Korea? The table below describes the production possibilities confronting an economy.

Using that information: LO3 1. Calculate the opportunity costs of building hospitals. Draw the production possibilities curve. Why can't more of both outputs be produced? Which point on the curve is the most desired one? South Korea devotes 2. LO3 9. LO4 LO5 Page 21 Graph the production possibilities curve. If maximum health care is provided, how much education will be provided? What is the opportunity cost of increasing health care from to units?

In fact, we didn't even make it through the first chapter without a few graphs. The purpose of this appendix is to look more closely at the way graphs are drawn and used. The basic purpose of a graph is to illustrate a relationship between two variables.

Consider, for example, the relationship between grades and studying. In general, you expect that additional hours of study time will result in higher grades. If true, you should be able to see a distinct relationship between hours of study time and grade point average. In other words, there should be some empirical evidence that study time matters. Suppose we actually tracked study times and grades for all the students taking this course. The resulting information might resemble the data in Table A.

According to the table, students who don't study at all can expect an F in this course. To get a C, the average student apparently spends eight hours a week studying. All those who study 16 hours a week end up with an A in the course. These relationships between grades and studying can also be illustrated on a graph.

Indeed, the whole purpose of a graph is to summarize numerical relationships in a visual way. We begin to construct a graph by drawing horizontal and vertical boundaries, as in Figure A. These boundaries are called the axes of the graph. The average student 2. This is indicated by point M on the graph. In this case, we shall measure the grade point average on the vertical axis. We start at the origin the intersection of the two axes and count upward, letting the distance between horizontal lines represent half 0.

Each horizontal line is numbered, up to the maximum grade point average of 4. The number of hours each week spent doing homework is measured on the horizontal axis. We begin at the origin again, and count to the right. The scale numbering proceeds in increments of 1 hour, up to 20 hours per week.

When both axes have been labeled and measured, we can begin to illustrate the relationship between study time and grades.

Consider the typical student who does eight hours of homework per week and has a 2. We illustrate this relationship by first locating eight hours on the horizontal axis. We then move up from that point a distance of 2. Point M tells us that eight hours of study time per week is typically associated with a 2.

The rest of the information in Table A. To illustrate the average grade for people who study 12 hours per week, we move upward from the number 12 on the horizontal axis until we reach the height of 3. At that intersection, we draw another point point N.

Page 22 Once we have plotted the various points describing the relationship of study time to grades, we may connect them with a line or curve. This line curve is our summary. In this case, the line slopes upward to the right— that is, it has a positive slope. This slope indicates that more hours of study time are associated with higher grades.

Were higher grades associated with less study time, the curve in Figure A. Slopes The upward slope of Figure A. According to point M in Figure A.

In order to earn a B 3. This relationship between changes in study time and changes in grade point average is expressed by the steepness, or slope, of the graph.

Shifts The relationship between grades and studying illustrated in Figure A. It is simply a graphical illustration of student experiences, as revealed in our hypothetical survey. The relationship between study time and grades could be quite different. Suppose that the university decided to raise grading standards, making it more difficult to achieve good grades.

To achieve a C, a student now would need to study 12 hours per week, not just 8 as in Figure A. To get a B, you now have to study 16 hours, not the previous norm of only 12 hours per week. Figure A. Notice that the new curve lies to the right of the earlier curve. We say that the curve has shifted to reflect a change in the relationship between study time and grades. Students who now study only four hours per week point S will fail. Under the old grading policy, they could have at least gotten a D.

When a curve shifts, the underlying relationship between the two variables has changed. In this case a tougher grading policy alters the relationship between study time and grades. To get a C, one must now study 12 hours per week point R , not just 8 hours point M. A shift may also change the slope of the curve. In Figure A. Therefore, the slope of both curves in Figure A. In this case, zero study time still results in an F. But now the payoff for additional studying is reduced.

Now it takes six hours of study time to get a D 1. In this case, a new grading policy makes each higher grade more difficult to achieve. To raise a C to a B, for example, one must study six additional hours compare points J and K. Earlier it took only four hours to move up the grade scale a full point. The slope of the line has declined from 0.

It takes six hours to raise the grade a full point. The slope of the new line is therefore The new curve in Figure A. What all this means is that it now takes a greater effort to improve your grade. A distinguishing feature of linear curves is that they have the same constant slope throughout. In reality, the relationship between studying and grades may not be linear.

Higher grades may be more difficult to attain. You may be able to raise a C to a B by studying six hours more per week. But it may be harder to raise a B to an A. According to Figure A. Thus the relationship between study time and grades is nonlinear in Figure A. In this case, the slope decreases as study time increases. Grades continue to improve, but not so fast, as more and more time is devoted to homework. You may know the feeling. Causation Figure A. In fact, the graph drawn in Figure A.

The graph is only a summary of empirical observations. It says nothing about cause and effect. It could be that students who study a lot are smarter to begin with. If so, then less able students might not get higher grades if they studied harder. In other words, the cause of higher grades is debatable. At best, the empirical relationship summarized in the graph may be used to support a particular theory e. That's when the real fun starts. But the relationship and slope may vary. The slope is decreasing as we move up the curve.

Page 27 W e are surrounded by the economy but never really see it. We see only fragments, never the entirety. We see boutiques at the mall, never total retail sales. We pump gas at the service station but have no notion of how many millions of barrels of oil are consumed each day. We know every detail on our paychecks but don't have a clue about how much income the entire workforce earns. Most of us have no idea how our own income stacks up against that of the average U.

Such details simply aren't a part of our daily agendas. Our interest here is to see how these questions are answered at present in the United States—that is, WHAT goods and services does the United States produce? HOW is that output produced? We focus on the big picture without going into too much statistical detail.

Along the way, we'll see how the U. In reality, the mix of output includes so many different products that we could never fit them on a graph. We can, however, sketch what the U.

How Much Output The first challenge in describing the actual output of an economy is to somehow add up the millions of different products produced each year into a meaningful summary. The production possibilities curve in Chapter 1 did this in physical terms for only two products see Figure 1. We ended up at a specific mix of output with precise quantities of two goods.

In principle we could list all of the millions of products produced each year. But such a list would be longer than this textbook and a lot less useful. We need a summary measure of how much is produced. The top panel of Table 2. Even if we produced only three products—oranges, disposable razors, and video games—there is no obvious way of summarizing total output in physical terms.

Should we count units of output? In that case oranges would appear to be the most important good produced. Should we count the weight of different products? In that case video game software would not count at all.

Should we tally their sizes? Clearly physical measures of output aren't easy to aggregate. TABLE 2. Accordingly, total output is measured in monetary terms, with each good or service valued at its market price. GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services produced in a given time period.

Page 28 If we use monetary value instead of physical units to compute total output, the accounting chore is much easier. In a market economy, every product commands a specific price. Hence the value of each product can be observed easily. By multiplying the physical output of each good by its price, we can determine the total value of each good produced.

Notice in the bottom panel of Table 2. GDP refers to the total value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a given time period: It is a summary measure of a nation's output.

GDP enables us to add oranges and razors and even video games into a meaningful summary of economic activity see Table 2. The U. Department of Commerce actually does this kind of accounting every calendar quarter.

Those quarterly GDP reports tell us how much output the economy is producing. GDP is based on both physical output and prices. Accordingly, from one year to the next either rising prices or an increase in physical output could cause nominal GDP to increase.

Notice in Table 2. That sounds like an impressive jump in output. So the apparent jump in nominal GDP is an illusion caused by rising prices inflation. Real GDP corrects for such changing price levels. To provide a clearer picture of how much output we are producing, GDP numbers must be adjusted for inflation. These inflation adjustments delete the effects of rising prices by valuing output in constant prices.

In the U. That was a lot of oranges, razors, and video games— not to mention the tens of thousands of other goods and services produced. Hence the U. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, that's a remarkable feat.

It clearly establishes the United States as the world's economic giant. Figure 2. It is fourteen times larger than Mexico's. In fact, the U. America's annual output of goods and services is three times that of Japan and equal to all of Western Europe. The output of Third World countries is only a tiny fraction of U. Data for based on purchasing power parity.

Per capita GDP tells us how much output is potentially available to the average person. It doesn't tell us how much any specific person gets. Per capita GDP is an indicator of how much output each person would get if all output were divided evenly among the population. Individual country comparisons are even more startling. Homeless people in the United States fare better than that—typically much better. Americans classified as poor have more food, more shelter, and more amenities than most people in the less developed nations even hope for.

That is the reality depicted in the statistics of Table 2. People in the poorest nations of the world e. World Bank data based on purchasing power parity [Atlas Method]. Some of your favorite consumer gadgets e. People worked harder and got fewer goods and services. Since the per capita output of the U. That means you're now enjoying six times as many goods and services and much better quality than people did back then.

We're so rich that we now spend over a billion dollars a year on closet organizers alone! Although many of us still complain that we don't have enough, we enjoy an array of goods and services that other nations and earlier generations only dreamed about. What's even more amazing is that our abundance keeps growing. America's real GDP increases by about 3 percent a year. That may not sound like much, but it adds up.

With the U. Like interest accumulating in the bank, economic growth keeps adding to our standard of living. If real GDP keeps growing 2 percentage points faster than our population, per capita incomes will double again in approximately 35 years.

There is no certainty that the economy will continue to grow at that speed. From to , real GDP didn't grow at all. As a consequence, U. We had another setback in — But those are exceptions from the American norm of persistent growth.

In other nations, the struggle between population growth and economic growth is a persistent source of anxiety. From to , output per capita actually declined in Venezuela, Madagascar, the Ivory Coast, and many other already poor nations.

GDP is simply a measure of the volume of goods and services produced. Material possessions don't substitute for any of those other dimensions. Reflection and Refraction Formulas. The Schlick Fresnel Approximation. Motion Blur Corner Cases. The Reference Path Tracer. The Shader Binding Table Demystified.

Introduction to Vulkan Ray Tracing. Page 1 Navigate to page number of 3. About this book Introduction This Open Access book is a must-have for anyone interested in real-time rendering. Ray tracing is the holy grail of gaming graphics, simulating the physical behavior of light to bring real-time, cinematic-quality rendering to even the most visually intense games.

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