Notes on Basic Economics: Chapter 1

"Economics is more than just a way to see patters or unravel puzzling anomalies. Its fundamental concern is with the material standard of living society as a whole and how that is affected by particular decisions made by individuals and institutions."--Thomas Sowell

Economics is not strictly about money as most people think, money is just the artificial device that helps drive the market. What economics really boils down to is resources, the scarcity of those resources, and how those resources are distributed.



"...Economics isn't just about dealing with the existing output of goods and services as consumers. It is also, and more fundamentally, about producing that output from scarce resources in the first place ---turning inputs into outputs."--Lionel Robbins from his paper What is Economics? 

 Most of the time those resources, where they go and how they're used, is determined by the government. The Soviet Union produce more electricity usage than the American companies, they had less output despite having more steel, wood, and other natural resources than the American's. Which run along with what Lionel Robbins said , "Economics is more about producing a greater output from less of an input." Or making more with less.  

Taking a look at some of the examples given in the first chapter, I find that it's quite interesting how some countries have fewer natural resources(sometimes massively less) than other countries but have a much better condition of life. How can that be? You would think those countries with an oversupply of resources would be much better off. But take Japan, they have considerably fewer resources than Venezuela, the life style is many times better. So it isn't how much you have, if you use it inefficiently then you will have a lesser output than a somebody who uses less more efficiently.