BEC JCE Social Studies 15 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Opportunity cost

The value of the best alternative forgone when a choice is made. Because resources are scarce, every decision has an opportunity cost equal to what was given up.

Factors of production

The inputs used to produce goods and services: land (natural resources), labor, capital (tools and equipment), and entrepreneurship. Their returns are rent, wages, interest, and profit.

Production possibilities frontier

A curve showing maximum combinations of two goods an economy can produce with given resources. Points on the curve are efficient, inside are inefficient, and outside are unattainable.

Law of demand

As the price of a good rises, quantity demanded falls, all else equal. The demand curve slopes downward; changes in income or tastes shift the entire curve.

Market equilibrium

The price at which quantity demanded equals quantity supplied. Above it a surplus appears; below it a shortage appears, pushing price back toward equilibrium.

Price ceiling

A legal maximum price. Set below equilibrium, it causes shortages, queues, and black markets; rent control is a common example.

Gross domestic product

The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period. It excludes intermediate goods and unpaid household labor.

Inflation

A sustained increase in the general price level, reducing money's purchasing power. Demand-pull inflation follows excess spending; cost-push follows rising input costs.

Comparative advantage

The ability to produce a good at lower opportunity cost than another producer. Specializing accordingly and trading raises total output even without an absolute advantage.

Budget deficit

The amount by which government spending exceeds revenue in a single year. Repeated deficits accumulate into the national debt, financed by selling bonds.

Separation of powers

Dividing government authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches so no single branch holds all power. Each branch can check the others, preventing tyranny.

Checks and balances

Mutual limits among branches: the executive can veto laws, the legislature can override vetoes and confirm appointments, and courts can strike down unconstitutional acts.

Federalism

A system dividing power between a national government and regional governments. Enumerated powers belong to the center, reserved powers to regions, and concurrent powers are shared.

Judicial review

The power of courts to declare laws or government actions unconstitutional. It makes the judiciary an arbiter of constitutional limits, though courts depend on others to enforce rulings.

Rule of law

The principle that everyone, including officials, is subject to publicly known law applied equally. It requires independent courts, due process, and predictable enforcement.

Public goods

Goods that are non-excludable and non-rival, such as national defense or street lighting. Markets underprovide them because people can free-ride without paying.

Negative externality

A cost of production or consumption borne by third parties, such as pollution. Because the price ignores the cost, output is excessive, so taxes or regulation are used.

Progressive tax

A tax taking a larger percentage from higher incomes than lower ones. Income tax brackets are progressive, which tends to reduce after-tax income inequality.

Regressive tax

A tax taking a larger share of income from poorer households, such as sales taxes, since lower earners spend a bigger fraction of income on taxed goods.

Proportional representation

An electoral system awarding legislative seats roughly in proportion to each party's vote share. It tends to produce multiparty systems and coalition governments.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that government authority derives from the consent of the governed. It underpins elections, constitutions, and the ability of citizens to change their government.

Due process

The legal requirement that government follow fair, established procedures before depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property, including notice, hearing, and impartial decision-makers.

Latitude and longitude

Latitude measures degrees north or south of the equator; longitude measures degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Together they give any location's absolute coordinates.

Push and pull factors

Conditions driving migration. Push factors repel people from a place (war, drought, poverty); pull factors attract them elsewhere (jobs, safety, services, family).

Population density

The number of people per unit of land area, found by dividing population by area. It reveals settlement patterns, resource pressure, and urbanization trends.

Demographic transition model

A model of population change through stages as societies develop. Death rates usually fall before birth rates, producing rapid growth in the middle stages.

Tariff

A tax on imported goods. It raises domestic prices, protects local producers, and can trigger retaliation, while consumers pay more and total trade may shrink.

Import quota

A limit on the quantity of a good that may be imported. Like a tariff it restricts supply and raises prices, but it fixes quantity rather than adding a tax.

Exchange rate

The price of one currency in terms of another. Depreciation makes a country's exports cheaper abroad and imports more expensive, tending to improve its trade balance.

Globalization

Growing cross-border flows of goods, capital, people, and information. It lowers consumer prices and spreads technology but can displace workers and transmit economic shocks.

Tragedy of the commons

Overuse of a shared, non-excludable but rival resource, such as fish stocks, because each user gains privately while costs are shared. Regulation or property rights can help.

Absolute vs comparative advantage

Absolute advantage means producing more output with the same inputs; comparative advantage means a lower opportunity cost. Trade gains follow comparative advantage, not absolute advantage.