Basic Microeconomics by Professor R. Larry Reynolds, PhD - HTML preview

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Few societies can function if theft is widely used.

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1.4.2 Economic Activities

1.4.2.3 CONSUMPTION

The end purpose of economic activity is to provide goods and services

that can be consumed by individuals to satisfy needs and wants. Modern,

neoclassical economists generally do not like to use the word “needs.” The use

of the word “wants” is an attempt to take subjective judgment out of the

analysis.

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2 The Problem of Provisioning

2 THE PROBLEM OF PROVISIONING

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Society is confronted with a finite set of resources and a given state of

technology at any given point in time. As a result, there is a finite amount of

goods and services that can be produced in that time frame. Given human

desires and need for food, clothing and shelter, it is not always possible to

produce everything that every one would like to have. When individuals want

more than can be produced they have the economic problem of scarcity.

The problem of scarcity might be resolved by reducing individuals wants or

by increasing the output of goods and services. If the solution is to reduce

wants, which wants should be eliminated and which should be retained to be

satisfied? The individual would necessarily be required to make a choice. If the

solution was to produce more goods, which goods should be produced and

how are they to be produced? Again, the individual must make choices. In

modern, neoclassical, economic analysis (we will call this “orthodox”

economics), the problem is structured so the wants are taken as given and the

problem is to produce the goods that satisfy the greatest wants.

Scarcity requires that the individual or agent make choices. An individual in

isolation (Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe before Friday) would have to make choices

since time and resources are limited. It would be necessary to choose whether

time was to be spent catching fish, gathering coconuts, reading or building

shelter. If the choice were to catch fish, he/she would have to choose between

making a net, a fishing pole or trying to catch fish by hand. The choice to

spend an hour fishing implies that that hour cannot be used to gather

coconuts. The sacrifice of coconuts is called “opportunity cost.”

25

2.1 Introduction

Even Robinson Crusoe’s world of isolation did not last long. When Friday

came to the island, it became necessary to decide who did what and who got

what. It is necessary to coordinate the preferences and activities of Crusoe

and Friday. Since the story of Robinson Crusoe was written by an Englishman,

Daniel Defoe (1659-1731), Crusoe is dominant and he has a greater influence

on the decisions than Friday. In 1719, the perspective of an English writer was

that aboriginals of various lands were subordinate. Still, it is necessary to

coordinate their activities.

2.2 SOCIAL INTERACTION

In a society, the behavior of the individuals must be coordinated through

social interaction. This social interaction takes many forms ranging from

cooperation to competition. In the process of resolving the allocation problem

through social interaction, a set of institutions, organizations, beliefs,

principles, perspectives and commonly held values are created. Society,

guided by these values, perceptions and beliefs and constrained by

institutions, technology and resource endowment, must solve the problem of

provisioning. The specific uses of goods and resources must be determined.

These choices involve which resources to use, which goods to produce, who

will bear the costs and who will benefit.

The basic problem is the coordination of the choices and behavior of

individuals. Finding a way to protect the autonomy of the individual while

coordinating their behavior to provide for the commonweal has been an

important goal of most great writers on social topics.

2.3 SPECIALIZATION

Specialization and the division of labor are two important forms of social

26

2.3 Specialization

interaction that allow two or more individuals to do what an isolated individual

cannot do. Both are means to increase the production of goods and services.

Specialization is the case where an individual (firm, organization or

country) focuses on the production of a specific good (or group of goods). It

can increase the amount of goods that can be produced. It also requires some

form of social institution to coordinate the process. If one individual produces

food and the other clothing, the two individuals must interact if both are to

have food and clothing. This interaction may be facilitated through an

institution such as the market or a transfer based on kinship, marriage,

religion or government authority. Plato suggests that the city-state is a social

construct that is used to facilitate specialization and to improve the welfare of

the members of that state.

In T

he R

epublic , Plato [427-347 B.C.] suggests specialization as an

explanation of the origins of the city-state. Plato describes a conversation

between Socrates and a group of students. They are pondering the nature of

justice. They conclude that justice is each person doing that which they are

best suited to do. The person best suited to be a baker should be a baker: the

person best suited to be a shepherd should be a shepherd. Once individuals

specialize, the city-state arises to facilitate the transfer of goods and the

necessary interactions among the individuals. [ T

he R

epublic , Book II]

Plato tries to identify the characteristics of the ideal society. One of the

focal points is justice that is achieved by “each person doing what they are

best suited to do.” Social interaction is required because each person depends

on the other members of the community. He devises a meritocracy that is lead

by philosopher kings. To prevent nepotism and greed from influencing these

philosopher kings, Plato does not allow the philosopher kings to hold private

property rights, all of their property is held in common.

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2.4 Division of Labor

2.4 DIVISION OF LABOR

The division of labor is another form of social interaction that allows

individuals to do what the isolated person cannot. In the division of labor, the

production of a good is broken down into individual steps. One person then

performs one step in the process. No single person produces the good alone.

The actions of each individual in the production process must be coordinated.

In modern industrial societies, production often takes place in a business firm.

“Management” is regarded as the process of coordinating the activities of the

individuals within the production process. A specific application of

microeconomics to the process of production within a firm is called

“managerial economics.”

Adam Smith [1723-1790] in the We

alth of Nations proposes that the

division of labor is one of the major elements that contribute to economic

growth (the increased ability to produce goods and services) [ T

he We

alth of

Nations, page 1]. The division of labor is the process of dividing a task (work)

into its component parts. Smith argues that the division of labor increases

production through improved dexterity, saving time in moving from one task

to another and improvements in tools.

Smith cautions about the effects of unrestrained use of the division of

labor,

“In the progress of the division of labor, the employment of the far

greater part of those who live by labor, that is, of the great body of the

people, comes to be confined to a few very simple operations, frequently

to one or two. But the understandings of the greater part of men are

necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose

whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the

effects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has

no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention in

finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He

naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally

becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to

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2.4 Division of Labor

become….But in every improved and civilized society this is the state

into which the laboring poor, that is the great body of the people must

necessarily fall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it.

[Smith, We

alth of Nations , p 734-735]

Smith, a professor of moral philosophy, constructed a system to explain a

set of forces that would guide social and economic behavior. In The Theory of

Moral Sentiments [1759] he showed the need for justice and a system of

morality. In An

Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the We

alth of Nations

[1776] he describes the role of self-interest and markets. In a third book that

was destroyed at his request at the time of his death, he describes the need

for a system of jurisprudence. Two sets of students’ notes have been used to

show these basic arguments in Lectures on Jurisprudence [1762-63 and 1766

published in 1978]. Smith describes a social system that requires morality,

markets and jurisprudence to guide and constrain individual action in a social

context.

2.5 COORDINATION OF EFFORTS

Once humans use the division of labor and specialization, it is necessary

for them to coordinate their efforts. They must interact on a variety of levels.

Society is a complex set of interactions among groups and individuals. These

interactions give rise to social institutions. The study of these interactions and

institutions is “social science.” Human interaction can be studied from a

variety of perspectives. Sociology, political science, law, history, psychology,

religion, anthropology and economics are examples of social sciences. These

are often studied as separate disciplines. However, we should remain aware

they are all interrelated perceptions of human behavior. While economics

specializes in the study of the processes that coordinate human behavior as it

allocates scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants, its relationship to other

social sciences should not be overlooked.

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2.6 Economic Activities

2.6 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

John Stuart Mill [1806-1873] divided economic activities into three

categories: production, distribution and exchange. It may be helpful to think of

an economic system as a process that begins with a set of inputs (or

resources) that are used for production that must be distributed for ultimate

consumption. (Mill, Principles of Political Economy, The Colonial Press, 1900)

In Figure I.1, the economy is shown as a process of altering a set of inputs

to satisfy individual wants. In this example, the steps in the economic process

are production, distribution and consumption.

Input or

Consumption

Resources

The ability of goods

[Land, labour,

capital and

Distribution

and services to satisfy

Production

entrepreneurial

or Allocation

wants is called

ability or energy,

“utility.”

matter, time and

tech]

Figure I.1

2.6.1 PRODUCTION

Production is the process of altering inputs to increase their ability to

satisfy human wants. Inputs are sometime called “factors of production” or

resources. Typically, economists will categorize inputs as land, labor and

capital. Superficially, labor is defined as human effort used to produce goods

that satisfy human wants. An input that is a “gift of nature” is referred to as

“land.” Capital is usually considered as an input that is produced by labor but

is used for the further production of goods and services. Entrepreneurial ability

was the last category of inputs to be added as a factor of production in market

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2.6.1 Production

oriented economies. It is usually associated with the process of creating and

innovating of new processes. The taxonomy of inputs, its relation social

structure and the nature of economics will be considered more carefully later

in the text.

2.6.2 DISTRIBUTION

Distribution usually describes the process of allocating the goods and

services that have been produced. Societies have used market exchange,

reciprocity, eminent domain, inheritance, theft and philanthropy to distribute

goods and services. The primary means of distribution or allocative

mechanisms that are used in most societies are market exchange, reciprocity

and eminent domain.

MARKET EXCHANGE

Market exchange involves a quid pro quo, i.e. an exchange of private

property rights between individual agents. The terms of the exchange are

clearly specified: “I will give you this if you will give me that.” The goods to be

exchanged are clearly specified, as are the terms of the exchange.

The participants in the exchange do not need to know each other: they

only need to know the terms of the exchange. The information requirements

are quite low. In many cases, the exchange may be made easier by social

institutions. Laws that protect buyers and sellers may facilitate the exchange.

Trust may be an important element as well.

RECIPROCITY

Reciprocity is a system of obligatory gift giving: I will do you a favor or give

you a gift, but you are then obligated to do an unspecified favor or give me a

gift at some (possibly unspecified) point in the future.

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2.6.2 Distribution

Reciprocity requires a sense of community. Kinship ties or membership in

the community is needed so that the obligation of returning a favor is enforced

by social forces. If a friend helped you move apartments one weekend and

then helped you fix your car the next weekend, your refusal to help that

person would have social repercussions. Your common friends might come to

regard you as a freeloader. Social pressure may induce you to return the

favor.

2.6.2.1 EMINENT DOMAIN

Eminent domain is a redistribution of private property rights through the

authority of some organization. The individual is required to give up their

claims to private property by an authority. Usually the process of eminent

domain is legitimized by government, religion or some other authority.

PHILANTHROPY

The act of giving a gift with nothing expected in return is called

philanthropy. This is an important method of distribution in blood drives and

the donation of organs for transplantation.

INHERITANCE AND THEFT

Inheritance is the process transferring private property rights from a dead

person to an agent. The form that the inheritance laws take may greatly

influence the accumulation of wealth in a society.

Theft is the process of transferring property rights by illegitimate force.

Few societies can function if theft is widely used.

2.6.3 CONSUMPTION

The end purpose of economic activity is to provide goods and services

that can be consumed by individuals to satisfy needs and wants. Modern,

neoclassical economists generally do not like to use the word “needs.” The use

32

2.6.3 Consumption

of the word “wants” is an attempt to take subjective judgment out of the

analysis.

2.6.4 COORDINATION, COMPETITION AND COOPERATION

Each society must develop a set of social institutions (behavioral

patterns) to coordinate the activities of production, distribution and

consumption. There is a wide range of forms these institutions may take

depending on the physical environment, state of technical knowledge, social

values and other factors. These institutions and behavioral patterns may rely

on competition, cooperation or some combination. Market systems tend to

focus on competition while other systems may have a larger role for

cooperation. A bicycle race is a useful metaphor. In a road race the riders

cooperate in the peleton (the large group of riders in a bicycle race) by

drafting (using the rider in front to reduce the wind drag). When a group

breaks away from the peleton, they typically form a pace line and each shares

the work of riding in front of the group. Eventually, the structure of the pace

line disintegrates and the riders compete in a sprint to the finish or they fall

back into the group. The race is a mixture of cooperation and competition.

Joan Robinson argues that an economic system “… r equires a set of rules,

an ideology to justify them, and a conscience in the individual which makes

him (sic) strive to carry them out. ” (Robinson, p 13)

Production, distribution and consumption are interrelated. What to produce

is influenced by what individuals want to consume. What people want to

consume is influenced by the distribution process and what can potentially can

be produced. This coordination may come in the form of cooperative activities,

such as the creation of a business firm. The firm usually organizes production

internally as a cooperative process but must compete externally. Alternatively,

33

2.6.4 Coordination, Competition and Cooperation

the coordination of activities may be accomplished by competition or some

combination of cooperation and competition.

2.7 TECHNOLOGY

Technology is knowledge about how resources, individuals and social

organization can be used to accomplish objectives. Technology is more than a

set of skills to do things. It is a perspective about the relationships between

humans and their world. Technology is the sum total of the ways in which

human societies interact with natural and built environments. Humans seek to

understand these interactions and develop technology by combining and

reorganizing existing technologies.

In economics, technology is the knowledge about the use of scarce

resources to produce goods and services that satisfy human wants. The

knowledge about how we do things, “technology,” is not limited to machines.

The discovery of a calendar or the realization that crops can be planted on a

three field rotation may be as important as the invention of the padded horse

collar, the steam engine or the PC. Knowledge about the use of organizational

structure to achieve an objective is, in a sense, a form of technology.

The values and structure of society are connected to the state of

technology. Society is shaped by technology and at the same time is an

important force in the determination of the course of technological change.

This relationship between technology, society and the individual can be driven

by curiosity and/or material gain.

Technological change is pervasive. During some periods of history,

technology changes at a slow pace. At other times, the rate of change is more

rapid and more dramatic. During the medieval period, technological change

was slow. With the development of mechanical clocks, the plague, moveable

34

2.7 Technology

type, gunpowder, new techniques in art and other innovations, the

“Renaissance” (usually thought of as the 14th-17th centuries) was a period of

dramatic change. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the “age of

Enlightenment” was fueled by technological change. The “Industrial

Revolution” (which is often dated as about 1750) is another term used to

identify a period of rapid technological change. Each of these periods involves

changes in ideas, values, knowledge and social institutions. Each altered

economic and social processes.

There are opposing views as to the process of technological change. One

view is the Thomas A. Edison perspective. In this case, technological

development is driven by profits. If a technology is profitable, it will be

invented. The other view is that technology is a self-generating process. New

technology is the result of old technology(ies) being recombined in new ways

and used for new purposes. In the second view, profits cannot create the

development of technology but determine its uses.

What an individual perceives as a resource is influenced by the nature of

technology. In the 18th century, obsidian was an important resource among

the inhabitants of the western United States: uranium was not. In the 21st

century, obsidian is not normally regarded as a very important resource while

uranium has become a resource.

Factor endowment may influence the direction that technology develops. In

a society with an abundance or arable land and a shortage of labor may

produce (and consume) different goods and seek different technologies to

produce them.

In the Edison view, the light bulb was invented because there was a

demand for it and it could be developed and produced for a profit. In the

second view, it is not possible to invent high-pressure steam engines, even

35

2.7 Technology

though they may be profitable, until the technology of metallurgy develop