How reliable or accurate is marginal analysis?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

Marginal analysis is designed to show how economic reasoning allows actors to accomplish more by understanding limits on what can be accomplished. The focus of marginal analysis is on possible incremental adjustments in resource allocation. As the underlying technique in cost-benefit analysis, marginal analysis is

How strongly does government regulation impact the utilities sector?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Government regulation dominates the utilities sector. The majority of all American consumers receive their utilities services from private companies that are regulated at the state level by public service commissions. Larger federal or state power utilities are run directly by the government, as are

How successful have “dove” Federal Reserve heads been in the past when it comes to managing the economy?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Until the financial crisis of 2007-2008, it seemed as though dovish chairs of the Federal Reserve had used monetary policy to effectively keep down unemployment without noticeable negative consequences. The “Great Moderation” ushered in by Alan Greenspan was an enormous success story, until the

If left in place long term, what problems does protectionism cause for a country?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: In 1886, American free-trade advocate Henry George famously identified the problem of protectionism through an amusing analogy: “What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” George poignantly identified

In economics, what is an index number?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Economists often make comparisons between sets of data across time. For example, a macroeconomist might want to measure changes in the cost of living in the United States over a five-year period. This is where index numbers come in; they allow for easy, quick

Is a current account deficit good or bad for the economy?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: The current account deficit, also referred to as the “balance of payments deficit” or simply “trade deficit,” represents a fiat currency imbalance between the imports and exports of a country. Whenever the dollar value of tangible consumer goods, such as cars from Sweden or

Is Colombia an emerging market economy?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Colombia meets the criteria of an emerging market economy. The South American country has a much lower gross domestic product, or GDP, per capita than the United States and other developed countries. Its Human Development Index, or HDI, which measures a country’s quality of

Is demand or supply more important to the economy?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Supply and demand are both key to economic activity. The two influence each other and impact prices of consumer goods and services within an economy. Supply is the amount of a particular good or service available at a given time to consumers. Consumers, expressing

Is economics a science?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: Economics is generally regarded as a social science, although some critics of the field argue that economics falls short of the definition of a science due to a number of reasons, including a lack of testable hypotheses, lack of consensus and inherent political overtones.

Is gross national income (GNI) or gross domestic product (GDP) a better measure of the economic condition of a country with substantial foreign investment?

July 8, 2024 No Comments

A: While gross domestic product, or GDP is among the most popular of economic indicators, gross national income, or GNI, is quite possibly a better metric for the overall economic condition of a country whose economy includes substantial foreign investments. This is because the GNI

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