English for fun and thought

Interpreting cartoons: Study the cartoon and answer the questions:

 

1. What factors of production can be found in the picture?

2. How are labor, capital, natural resources represented?

3. Are all these things worth so much without innovative problem solving?

4. Do you agree that this cartoon is helpful in explaining the meaning of “entrepreneurship”?

 

 

Understanding economics jokes:  

1. Q: Which one of our natural resources will become exhausted first?
  A: The Taxpayer.

2. Value of human capital

Engineers and scientists will never make as much money as business executives. Now a rigorous mathematical proof that explains why this is true:

Postulate 1: Knowledge is Power.
Postulate 2: Time is Money.

As every engineer knows,

Work
---------- = Power
Time

Since Knowledge = Power, and Time =Money, we have

Work
--------- = Knowledge
Money

Solving for Money, we get:

Work
----------- = Money
Knowledge

Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero, Money approaches infinity regardless of the Work done.
Conclusion: The less you know, the more money you make.

 

Perceiving quotes about economists and economy:

· The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics. - Thomas Sowell, economist

· An economist is someone who gets rich explaining others why they are poor.

· Economics is the painful elaboration of the obvious.

 

 

Unit 2

 

TRADE-OFFS

 

Pre-reading competency focus

 

You will learn about the relationship between trade-offs and opportunity costs, and how a production possibilities curve can help people make informed economic choices.

Previewing: Scarcity forces people to make choices about how they will use their resources. In this section, you’ll learn that the effects of these choices may be far-reaching and long-lasting. For example, one day you may choose to either go to work for a company or open your own business. Such a decision would affect many aspects of your life, including how much you earn and how you manage your time.

 

Predicting: Do all economic decisions involve trade-offs in your opinion?

 

Vocabulary previewing: Match the words (A) and their definitions (B)

 

A

 

  (1) trade-off, (2) opportunity cost, (3) production possibilities curve

                                

B

 

(a)  The value of the second-best choice that is given up when the first   choice is chosen

(b)  Sacrificing one good or service to purchase or produce another

(c)  A graph that shows the greatest combination of goods and services that

  can be produced from a specific amount of resources in a set period of  

  time

 

Skimming: Opportunity cost implies that when you make a trade-off you lose. Look through the text and say what you lose.