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Markets and the Economy

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Markets and Economy

rinciples of Economics – ECO100

March 6, 2011

Markets and the Economy

Budget Deficits
Each problem should have four clearly defined sections. The first section should contain essentially a statement of the problem. For example, “The economic way of thinking can shed some light on possible solutions to alcohol abuse. This paper will propose two policy options designed to reduce abuse.” Repeating and summarizing the question helps one keep in mind the problem to be solved and the exact tasks, propose two solutions.

The second section should be an elaboration of the problem using economic thinking. For example, in the case of alcohol abuse, we might begin with “for the purposes of this paper the definition of alcohol abuse will be limited to the cases of excessive consumption of alcohol as a single event. In other words the discussion will not consider alcohol addictions, but only excessive consumption by the casual or social drinker. Additionally, for the purpose of the discussion it will be assumed that the abuse takes place in a setting in which there is potential for the behavior to have negative impacts on neighbors and the community. In other words there is a potential that private behavior by one person of group with have an adverse impact on others.”

Once one has defined what one is going to be include in the behavior studied, then one can begin to define possible variables that may cause excess consumption. So section three is the modeling part of the analysis. For example, economic theory suggests that the quantity demanded will have an inverse relationship to the price. In the case of alcohol abuse there are certain settings that suggest that pricing or a lack of price as a regulator of consumption may play a role in abuse. For example, alcohol abuse may occur in social setting in

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