经济学基本概念及其研究内容

The basic concept of economics and its main scope of research

The word“economy”comes from the Greek word for “one who manages a household”.At first，this origin might seem peculiar.But，in fact，households and economies have much in common．

A household faces many decisions.It must decide which members of the household do which takes and what each member gets in return: who cooks dinner?

Who dose the laundry? Who gets extra dessert at dinner? Who gets to choose what TV show to watch? In short，the household must allocate its scarce resources among its various members，taking into account each member's abilities，efforts，and desires．

Like a household，a society faces many decisions.A society must decide what jobs will be done and who will do them.It needs some people to grow food，other people to make clothing，and still others to design computer software.Once a society has allocated people (as well as land，buildings，and machines) to various jobs，it must also allocate the output goods and services that they produce.It must decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes.It must decide who will drive a Porsche and who will take the bus．

The management of society's resources is important because resources are scarce．

Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot produce all the goods and services people wish to have.Just as a household cannot give every member everything he or she wants，a society cannot give every individual the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire．

Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources.In most societies，resources are allocated not by a single central planner but through the combined actions of million of households and firms.Economists therefore study how people make decisions: how much they work，what they buy，how much they save，and how they invest savings.Economists also study how people interact with one another.For instance，they examine how the multitude of buyers and sellers of a good together determine the price at which the good is sold and the quantity that is sold.Finally，economists analyze forces and trends that affect the economy as a whole，including the growing in average income，the fraction of the population that cannot find work，and the rate at which price are rising．

经济学基本概念及其研究内容

“经济”这个词来源于希腊语，其意为“管理家庭的人”。乍一看，这个词的起源似乎有点奇特。但事实上，家庭和经济有着许多共同之处。

一个家庭面临着许多决策。它必须决定那些家庭成员去做什么，以及作为回报每个家庭成员能得到什么。谁做晚饭? 谁洗衣服? 谁在晚餐时多得到一块甜点? 谁有权选择看什么电视节目? 简而言之，家庭必须考虑到每个家庭成员的能力、努力和愿望，以在各个成员中配置稀缺资源。

和家庭一样，一个社会也面临着许多决策。一个社会必须决定将要做哪些工作以及谁做这些工作，社会需要一些人种粮食，另一些人做衣服，还有一些人设计电脑软件。社会不仅分配人们( 以及土地、建筑物和机器) 去做何种工作，它还分配他们所需生产的物品和劳务量。社会必须决定谁吃鱼子酱而谁将吃土豆。它还必须决定谁将开保时捷跑车而谁将坐公共汽车。

由于资源稀缺，社会资源的管理就非常重要。稀缺性是指社会提供的东西少于人们想拥有的。正如一个家庭不能给每个成员想要的每件东西一样，一个社会也不能给每个人他们所向往的最高生活水平。

经济学研究社会如何管理自己的稀缺资源。在大多数社会中，资源并不是由一个中央计划者来配置，而是通过千百万家庭和企业的共同行动来配置的。

因此，经济学家研究人们如何作出决策: 他们工作多少，购买什么，储蓄多少以及如何把储蓄用于投资。经济学家还研究人们如何相互交易。例如，经济学家探讨一种物品众多的买者与卖者如何共同决定该物品的销售价格和销售量。最后，经济学家分析影响整个经济的力量和趋势，包括平均收入的增长、人口中找不到工作的人的比例以及价格上升的速度。