Microeconomics exam questions and
answers fully solved
Incentives - answersRewards and penalties that motivate behavior (Ch. 1)
Opportunity Cost - answersOf a choice, the value of the opportunities lost (Ch. 1)
Inflation - answersIncrease in the general level of prices (Ch. 1)
Absolute Advantage - answersAbility to produce the same good using fewer inputs than
another producer (Ch. 2)
Production Possibilities Frontier - answersShows all the combinations of goods that a
country can produce given its productivity and supply of inputs (Ch. 2)
Comparative Advantage - answersIn producing goods for which (a country) has the
lowest opportunity cost (Ch. 2)
Demand Curve - answersFunction that shows the quantity demanded at different prices
(Ch. 3)
Quantity Demanded - answersQuantity that buyers are willing and able to buy at a
particular price (Ch. 3)
Consumer Surplus - answersThe consumer's gain from exchange, or the difference
between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay for a certain quantity and the
market price (Ch. 3)
Total Consumer Surplus - answersMeasured by the area beneath the demand curve
and above the price (Ch. 3)
Normal Good - answersGood for which demand increases when income increases (Ch.
3)
Inferior Good - answersGood for which demand decreases when income increases (Ch.
3)
Substitutes - answersA decrease in the price of one good leads to a decrease in
demand for the other good (Ch. 3)
Complements - answersA decrease in the price of one good leads to an increase in the
demand for the other good (Ch. 3)
Supply Curve - answersFunction that shows the quantity supplied at different prices
(Ch. 3)
Quantity Supplied - answersAmount of a good that sellers are willing and able to sell at
a particular price (Ch. 3)
Producer Surplus - answersProducer's gain from exchange, or the difference between
the market price and the minimum price a which a producer would be willing to sell a
particular quantity (Ch. 3)
Total Producer Surplus - answersMeasured by the area above the supply curve and
below the price (Ch. 3)
Surplus - answersSituation in which the quantity supplied is greater than the quantity
demanded (Ch. 4)
Shortage - answersSituation in which the quantity demanded is greater than the
quantity supplied (Ch. 4)
Equilibrium Price - answersPrice at which the quantity demanded is equal to the
quantity supplied (Ch. 4)
, Equilibrium Quantity - answersQuantity at which the quantity demanded is equal to the
quantity supplied (Ch. 4)
Elasticity of Demand - answersMeasures how responsive the quantity demanded is to a
change in price; more responsive equals more elastic (Ch. 5)
Elasticity of Supply - answersMeasures how responsive the quantity supplied is to a
change in price (Ch. 5)
Great Economic Problem - answersTo arrange our limited resources to satisfy as many
of our wants as possible (Ch. 7)
Speculation - answersAttempt to profit from future price changes (Ch. 7)
Futures - answersStandardized contracts to buy or sell specified quantities of a
commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified
time in the future (Ch. 7)
Prediction Market - answersSpeculative market designed so that prices can be
interpreted as probabilities and used to make predictions (Ch. 7)
Price Ceiling - answersMaximum price allowed by the law (Ch. 8)
Deadweight Loss - answersTotal of lost consumer and producer surplus when not all
mutually profitable gains from trade are exploited. Price ceilings create a deadweight
loss. (Ch. 8)
Rent Control - answersPrice ceiling on rental housing (Ch. 8)
Price Floor - answersA minimum price allowed by law (Ch. 8)
Protectionism - answersEconomic policy of restraining trade through quotas, tariffs, or
other regulations that burden foreign producers but not domestic producers (Ch. 9)
Tariff - answersA tax on imports (Ch. 9)
Trade Quota - answersRestriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported:
Imports greater than the quota amount are forbidden or heavily taxed (Ch. 9)
Private Cost - answersCost paid by the consumer or the producer (Ch. 10)
External Cost - answersCost paid by people other than the consumer or the producer
trading in the market (Ch. 10)
Social Cost - answersThe cost to everyone: the private cost plus the external cost (Ch.
10)
Externalities - answersExternal costs or external benefits that fall on bystanders (Ch.
10)
Social Surplus - answersConsumer surplus plus producer surplus plus everyone else's
surplus (Ch. 10)
Efficient Equilibrium - answersPrice and quantity that maximizes social surplus (Ch. 10)
Efficient Quantity - answersThe quantity that maximizes social surplus (Ch. 10)
Pigouvian Tax - answersTax on a good with external costs (Ch. 10)
External Benefit - answersBenefit received by people other than the consumers or
producers trading in the market (Ch. 10)
Pigouvian Subsidy - answersSubsidy on a good with external benefits (Ch. 10)
Transaction Costs - answersAll the costs necessary to reach an agreement (Ch. 10)
Long Run - answersTime after all exit or entry has occurred (Ch. 11)
Short Run - answersPeriod before exit or entry can occur (Ch. 11)
Total Revenue (TR) - answersPrice times the quantity sold. TR = P x Q (Ch. 11)
Total Cost - answersCost of producing a given quantity of output (Ch. 11)
Explicit Cost - answersCost that requires a money outlay (Ch. 11)