Summary of Microeconomics Math 2024!! - All the Math you need to know for Exam Day!

Main Ideas and Concepts

• Decisions Made at the Margin

  Understanding marginal concepts is crucial in microeconomics. Marginal terms include:

  • Marginal Benefit: Change in total benefit.
  • Marginal Cost: Change in total cost.
  • Marginal Revenue: Change in total revenue.
  • Marginal Product: Change in total product.
• Opportunity Cost

  Opportunity Cost is the value of the next best alternative not chosen. It includes both explicit costs (actual monetary outlay) and implicit costs (foregone income). Example: Going to the movies costs the ticket price plus missed wages.

• Comparative Advantage

  Comparative Advantage refers to the ability to produce a good at a lower Opportunity Cost. Calculating opportunity costs can be done through output and input problems.

• Utility Maximization

  Consumers maximize utility when the marginal utility per dollar spent is equal across goods. Adjust consumption based on marginal utility to achieve maximum total utility.

• Elasticity

  Price Elasticity of Demand: Measures how quantity demanded responds to price changes.

  • Total Revenue Test: If price and total revenue move in the same direction, demand is inelastic; if they move in opposite directions, demand is elastic.

  Price Elasticity of Supply: Similar concept applied to supply.

  Income Elasticity: Measures how quantity demanded changes with income changes.

  Cross-Price Elasticity: Measures how the quantity demanded of one good changes in response to the price change of another good.

• Consumer and Producer Surplus

  Consumer Surplus: Difference between what consumers are willing to pay and what they actually pay.

  Producer Surplus: Difference between what producers receive and their minimum acceptable price.

• Market Efficiency and Deadweight Loss

  Allocative efficiency occurs when economic surplus is maximized. Deadweight loss occurs when the market is not producing at the allocatively efficient quantity.

• Profit Maximization

  Firms maximize profit by producing where Marginal Revenue equals Marginal Cost. Distinction between accounting profit (total revenue minus explicit costs) and economic profit (total revenue minus both explicit and implicit costs).

• Market Failures

  Negative Externalities: Result in overproduction; government intervention through taxes can correct this.

  Positive Externalities: Lead to underproduction; government subsidies can help.

• Types of Taxes
  • Progressive Taxes: Higher rates for higher income levels.
  • Regressive Taxes: Higher rates for lower income levels.
  • Proportional Taxes: Same percentage across all income levels.
• Gini Coefficient

  Measures income inequality within a society, derived from the Lorenz curve.

Methodology and Instructions

• Calculating Opportunity Cost: Explicit Cost + Implicit Cost = Total Opportunity Cost.
• Finding Marginal Product: Change in Total Product / Change in Number of Workers.
• Calculating Elasticity:
  • Price Elasticity of Demand: Percentage Change in Quantity Demanded / Percentage Change in Price.
  • Income Elasticity: Percentage Change in Quantity / Percentage Change in Income.
  • Cross-Price Elasticity: Percentage Change in Quantity of Good X / Percentage Change in Price of Good Y.
• Calculating Surplus:
  • Consumer Surplus = Sum of (Marginal Benefit - Price).
  • Producer Surplus = Sum of (Price - Marginal Cost).
• Finding Deadweight Loss: Area of triangle = 0.5 × Base × Height.

Featured Speaker

• Jacob Reed from ReviewEcon.com.

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