The network effect occurs when a good or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. Network effect explained If you own a telephone, but no one else does, the good is of no value. As more people join the telephone network, the more valuable the telephone becomes to yourself. If you buy a …
The marginal efficiency of capital displays the expected rate of return on investment, at a particular given time. The marginal efficiency of capital is compared to the rate of interest. Keynes described the marginal efficiency of capital as: “The marginal efficiency of capital is equal to that rate of discount which would make the present …
One of the first lessons in economics is the idea of opportunity cost. If you pursue one choice, it means you can’t do another option. The government faces countless decisions based on this. For example, the government could spend more on health care, but the opportunity cost would be lower spending on education. We could …
Arbitrage occurs when an investor can make a profit from simultaneously buying and selling a commodity in two different markets. For example, gold may be traded on both New York and Tokyo stock exchanges. If the market price temporarily diverges and gold becomes cheaper on Japanese markets, then an arbitrageur could buy in Tokyo and …
Comparative advantage occurs when one country can produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than another. This means a country can produce a good relatively cheaper than other countries The theory of comparative advantage states that if countries specialise in producing goods where they have a lower opportunity cost – then there …
After a decade of secular stagnation in the west and ultra-low interest rates – from an economic perspective, the Turkish economy is ‘interesting’ in the sense that it gives a very different set of economic circumstances. An economic boom with parallels and similarities to the 1997-98 Asian Crisis. Since 2000, the Turkish economy has grown …
Readers Question: The Labour party, among others, protests about the effects of government austerity policies on ordinary people but does government spending, even so-called ‘investment in infrastructure’, not automatically increase national debt which means punishing future generations? Firstly, if a government increases spending without any corresponding increase in taxes, then this change in the government’s …
An indifference curve is a line showing all the combinations of two goods which give a consumer equal utility. In other words, the consumer would be indifferent to these different combinations. Example of choice of goods which give consumers the same utility Table plotted as indifference curve Diminishing marginal utility The indifference curve is convex …