You have completed the third Module of this Credit Unit!
Your next step is the Credit Unit Competency Assessment
Your assessment will need to be graded, and you must receive a grade of 75% or better. If you have any questions, please contact your Student Navigator.
Take a moment to review your notes and the Module Outcomes listed below. Be sure to prepare well before you attempt to take your assessment. The assessment is your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of all the concepts presented in this unit.
Module 1 Outcomes:
- Define economics.
- Explain the concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost and how they relate to the definition of economics.
- Identify and answer the three fundamental economic questions as it applies to a given economy.
- Explain the distinguishing characteristics of the economic way of thinking.
- Distinguish between microeconomics and macroeconomics.
- Explain how economists test hypotheses, develop economic theories, and use models in their analyses.
- Explain how the all-other-things unchanged (ceteris paribus) problem and the fallacy of false cause affect the testing of economic hypotheses and how economists try to overcome these problems.
- Distinguish between normative and positive statements.
- Define the three factors of production—labor, capital, and natural resources.
- Explain the role of technology and entrepreneurs in the utilization of the economy’s factors of production.
- Explain the concept of the production possibilities curve and understand the implications of its downward slope and bowed-out shape.
- Use the production possibilities model to distinguish between full employment and situations of idle factors of production and between efficient and inefficient production.
- Understand specialization and its relationship to the production possibilities model and comparative advantage.
- Understand the argument for unrestricted international trade in terms of economic specialization and comparative advantage.
- Define economic growth in terms of the production possibilities model and discuss factors that make such growth possible.
- Explain the classification of economic systems, the role of government in different economic systems, and the strengths and weaknesses of different systems.
Module 2 Outcomes:
- Define the quantity demanded of a good or service and illustrate it using a demand schedule and a demand curve.
- Distinguish between the following pairs of concepts: demand and quantity demanded, demand schedule and demand curve, movement along and shift in a demand curve.
- Identify demand shifters and determine whether a change in a demand shifter causes the demand curve to shift to the right or to the left.
- Define the quantity supplied of a good or service and illustrate it using a supply schedule and a supply curve.
- Distinguish between the following pairs of concepts: supply and quantity supplied, supply schedule and supply curve, movement along and shift in a supply curve.
- Identify supply shifters and determine whether a change in a supply shifter causes the supply curve to shift to the right or to the left.
- Define the quantity supplied of a good or service and illustrate it using a supply schedule and a supply curve.
- Distinguish between the following pairs of concepts: supply and quantity supplied, supply schedule and supply curve, movement along and shift in a supply curve.
- Identify supply shifters and determine whether a change in a supply shifter causes the supply curve to shift to the right or to the left.
Module 3 Outcomes:
- Define the quantity supplied of a good or service and illustrate it using a supply schedule and a supply curve.
- Distinguish between the following pairs of concepts: supply and quantity supplied, supply schedule and supply curve, movement along and shift in a supply curve.
- Identify supply shifters and determine whether a change in a supply shifter causes the supply curve to shift to the right or to the left.
- Learn how to apply the model of demand and supply to the behavior of equilibrium prices and output in a variety of markets.
- Learn basic vocabulary on the organization of firms and explain how the model of demand and supply can be used to understand prices of shares of stock.
- Use the model of demand and supply to explain what happens when the government imposes price floors or price ceilings.
- Discuss the reasons why governments sometimes choose to control prices and the consequences of price control policies.
- Use the model of demand and supply to explain the effects of third-party payers on the health-care market and on health-care spending.