Specialty Digest

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Encyclopedia / Business & Economics

Economics

Specialty Knowledge entries in Economics.

A forked path through a field

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative that must be given up in order to pursue a particular choice. It is one of the foundational concepts in economics, capturing the idea that resources, whether money, time, or labor, are limited, so choosing one option always means forgoing another. Explicit versus implicit costs Economists

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The value of the next-best alternative given up when choosing one option over another under limited resources.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange trading floor

Supply and Demand

Supply and demand is the economic model describing how the price and quantity of a good or service are determined by the interaction of buyers and sellers in a market. It is one of the most fundamental frameworks in economics, used to explain everything from grocery prices to housing markets to the price of oil.

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An economic model describing how the price of a good is determined by the relationship between how much of it producers supply and how much consumers demand.

Gantry cranes and stacked shipping containers at a container terminal.

Tariff

In simple terms A tariff is a tax on goods crossing a border into a country. The importer pays it to the government, usually as a percentage of the shipment value. The World Trade Organization describes tariffs as customs duties that give goods made at home a price advantage over similar goods brought in from

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A tariff is a tax a government charges on imported goods, raising their price compared with goods made at home.