经济学原理（第三版 曼昆 著）英文版

T E N P R I N C I P L E S
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The word economy comes from the Greek word for “one who manages a household.”
;hnX C1Ig0m*f0At first, this origin might seem peculiar. But, in fact, households and
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.n7H8s2v.[e,q0A household faces many decisions. It must decide which members of the
P,j0ku'CA0household do which tasks and what each member gets in return: Who cooks dinner?
:p7@'vl:c9T8tE0Who does the laundry? Who gets the extra dessert at dinner? Who gets to
t-[b.d5}M}Q8O*M0choose what TV show to watch? In short, the household must allocate its scarce resources谷逸人力资源专业博客 Ig8] CX9Q
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among its various members, taking into account each member’s abilities,
$A5Tgl!N:Dh*G0efforts, and desires.
i*ff9}'j&bZ0Like a household, a society faces many decisions. A society must decide what
Ezav7a,aPB/m S0jobs will be done and who will do them. It needs some people to grow food, other
|-l;s1h#e7Nv0people to make clothing, and still others to design computer software. Once society谷逸人力资源专业博客+Eu1|r6P
has allocated people (as well as land, buildings, and machines) to various jobs,谷逸人力资源专业博客.[tI;s)ZV"R5C
it must also allocate the output of goods and services that they produce. It must谷逸人力资源专业博客 \+c#ck GddZ^#Q)n
decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes. It must decide who will
b ZlC;GT/q0drive a Porsche and who will take the bus.
w%E6C/ZK3S \]Q0The management of society’s resources is important because resources are
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s0scarce. Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot produce
acd6T;Ow$V0all the goods and services people wish to have. Just as a household cannot谷逸人力资源专业博客$xq(]pEcn
give every member everything he or she wants, a society cannot give every individual谷逸人力资源专业博客9vC%i\xk
the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire.谷逸人力资源专业博客zAw1w!mx]
Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. In most谷逸人力资源专业博客hQ_o/`
societies, resources are allocated not by a single central planner but through the谷逸人力资源专业博客;~*}_n&Rqoi
combined actions of millions of households and firms. Economists therefore study谷逸人力资源专业博客
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how people make decisions: how much they work, what they buy, how much they
h2p4sd:eW~lf0save, and how they invest their savings. Economists also study how people interact
q g3bM.NA{0with one another. For instance, they examine how the multitude of buyers and
(toU1V@yw/I0sellers of a good together determine the price at which the good is sold and the
G]5U{(hY,tThZ0quantity that is sold. Finally, economists analyze forces and trends that affect谷逸人力资源专业博客C
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the economy as a whole, including the growth in average income, the fraction of
c6M o0W/My;g.[0the population that cannot find work, and the rate at which prices are rising.
hDS@`VyM0Although the study of economics has many facets, the field is unified by several
5@G5G1Xe~0central ideas. In the rest of this chapter, we look at Ten Principles of Economics.谷逸人力资源专业博客 AO M+[1o"P4F
These principles recur throughout this book and are introduced here to give you
:gSv q&U*n^Jw0an overview of what economics is all about. You can think of this chapter as a “preview谷逸人力资源专业博客C,}`-P0R+[~/]N
of coming attractions.”