An entrepreneur is an individual who sets up and grows a business. They combine different factors of production (such as – land, labour and capital) to try and create a new profitable business venture. Entrepreneurs are themselves an important ‘factor of production’ and an essential aspect of a functioning free market economy. Importance of entrepreneurs …
Supply-side policies are government attempts to increase productivity and increase efficiency in the economy. If successful, they will shift aggregate supply (AS) to the right and enable higher economic growth in the long-run. There are two main types of supply-side policies. Free-market supply-side policies involve policies to increase competitiveness and free-market efficiency. For example, privatisation, …
Definition of Monopoly A pure monopoly is defined as a single seller of a product, i.e. 100% of market share. In the UK a firm is said to have monopoly power if it has more than 25% of the market share. For example, Tesco @30% market share or Google 90% of search engine traffic. Monopoly …
Nationalisation occurs when the government take control of an industry previously owned by private firms. For example, after 1945, the Labour government nationalised key industries, such as railways, steel and electricity. The argument was that the government would be able to run the industries in the best interests of society. Arguments for Nationalisation include 1. …
Pollution permits involve giving firms a legal right to pollute a certain amount e.g. 100 units of Carbon Dioxide per year. If the firm produces less pollution it can sell its pollution permits to other firms. However, if it produces more pollution it has to buy permits from other firms or the government. This creates …
Definition of Positive Externality: This occurs when the consumption or production of a good causes a benefit to a third party. For example: When you consume education you get a private benefit. But there are also benefits to the rest of society. E.g you are able to educate other people and therefore they benefit as …
A contestable market occurs when there is freedom of entry and exit into the market. In a contestable market, there will be low sunk costs. (Costs which can’t be recovered when leaving the market) Due to freedom of entry and exit – existing firms always face the threat of new firms entering the market. This …
The main difference between capitalism and socialism is the extent of government intervention in the economy. A capitalist economic system is characterised by private ownership of assets and business. A capitalist economy relies on free-markets to determine, price, incomes, wealth and distribution of goods. A socialist economic system is characterised by greater government intervention to re-allocate …