ECONOMICS

DEFINITIONS

Economics like other science subject has no specific definition as there are many economists so there are many definitions of the subject economics, these definition defend greatly perception the definer of the subject will give the definition of those we consider as authorities in economics.

The following are the definitions of Economics

1. Adam Smith (1776) an inquiry into the nature and course of the wealth of nation.

2. John Stuart Mill (1843) the practical science of the production and distribution of wealth.

3. Alfred Marshel (1890) A study of mankind in ordinary business of life.

And the one that is generally accepted as that of:-

4. Professor (lord) Lioner C Robbins in (1932) according him:-

Economics define as a science which studies of human behaviors as a relationship between end and scarce means which have alternative use.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF ECONOMICS

1. Want:- it simply means the desire or need to own goods or services that give satisfaction to human being want or need many thing at a particular time, the basic need of human are food, shelter & clothing

2. Scarcity:- this refers to limited available resources used in satisfying the unlimited human want. These resources are scarce relative to their demand; it is as a result of scarcity of resources that made the study of economics very essential in order to find alternative uses of these scarce resources.

3. Scale of preference:- this refer to as a list of individual in order of their relative importance this drawing of scale of preference will make it easier to be made spending since our need have been hirer chased.

4. Choice:- this arises as a result of numerous human want & the scarcity of the resources used in satisfying these wants.

5. Opportunity cost:- cost means the satisfaction of one wants of the expense of one want. It is refer to as want that is unsatisfied in order to satisfy another person’s need for instance.

BASIC TOOLS FOR ECONOMICS

ANALYSIS GRAPH

This can be define as a diagram showing statistical relationship between two variable things.

There are different types of graph and it includes:- line graph, bar graph, pre graph, picture graph, histogram, pie chart e.t.c.

1. line graph can be straight line graph and curved, e.g.

This graph shows relationship between two variable things i.e. price and demand show prices slopes down ward and quantity demand move from left to right.

2. Curved graph

Graph in economics are usually called curved and the common are simple & complicated curves e.g.

Quantity demanded Quantity supplied

IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF GRAPH IN ECONOMICS

1. graph shows relationship between two variable
2. they are use to introduced lesson
3. they make it easy to understand data presented in table

CHARTS

Is now the simple but effective way of stastistical analysis there are some forms of charts, they are as follows.

Simple bar chart:- this is a way of presenting tabulated data which evenly spaces bar saperated by gap which the long time of the bar being professional and attribute frequency e.g.

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Component bar chart

It is use when date involved are more than one e.g. Number of boys & girls in selected from some classes

Class	Boys	Girls	Total
ss. 1b	19	15	32
ss. 2a	23	17	40
ss. 3b	25	20	45
ss. 1c	24	11	35

Draw a component bar chart from the table above showing the number of boys and girls in selected from classes.

50 1

45 2

40 3 4

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Girls. ss 1b ss 2a ss 3b ss 1c

Boys

MULTIPLE BAR CHART

It is use to show how two or more variable are. e.g.

This is a population of a country, three sections in three years.

Section 1985 1986 1987

East 30,000 40,000 50,000

West 40,000 30,000 60,000

North 50,000 70,000 40,000

Draw the multiple bar chart of the population of section of a country in 3 years

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1985 1986 1987

East West North

PIE CHART

A pie chart, draw the simple chart into section which each section populated to the attribute of pie chart is also known as pie chart. This is a petroleum production of Nigeria in January 1983

Gasoline 20.0

Ago 11.0

Kerosene 10.5

200/41.15 x 300/1 = 173.50

10.5/41.15 x 300/1 =

Kerosene 91

Gasoline 173.8

Ago 95

HISTOGRAM

Histogram has other name like bar graph, frequency bar graph and frequency chart, it is a special bar chart that has no gap

Number of tuber of yam frequency

12 1

19 2

16 1

12 2

22 4

24 5

X= efx/n

= (12x1)+(14x2)+(16x1)+(18x2)+(22x4)+(21x5)

15

= 12+28+16+36+88+120

15 = 300

X= efx/n 300/15 = 20

MERIT OF ARITHMETC MEAN

1. it is easy to calculate
2. the principle of arithmetic is easy to understand
3. it is easy to complete
4. it uses all the items in the data in it’s calculation

DEMERIT OF ARITHMETIC MEAN

1. arithmetic mean can not be obtained graphically
2. it is difficult to determine without calculating
3. if one or more values missing it can not be calculated

THE MEDIAN

The median of a set of numbers arranged in either ascending or descending order of magnititude is the value two middle numbers e.g. Find the median of the following score 7, 10, 8, 3,12,4

Ascending order = 3, 4, 6,7,8,10,12

Descending order = 12, 10, 8, 7,6,4,3

Median = 7

e.g. 2 find the following median of number below arrange in descending order of magnitude 35, 10,14,38,15,22,30,28

= 38, 35, 30,28,22,18,15,14,10

Median = 22

e.g. 3 find the median of the following numbers 23,5,8,6,9,12,10,15,17,20

= 5,6,8,9,10,12,15,17,20,23

= 10+12 = 22

2 2

Median = 11

ADVANTAGES OF MEDIAN

1. it can be obtained graphically
2. it is easy to understand
3. it is easy to compute
4. it does not use all the value in distribution

DISADVANTAGES OF MEDIAN

1. the median is not useful in further statistical calculation
2. it is not easy to arrange the data population involved

THE MODE

The mode is the most frequently recurring number in a set of number value with the greatest frequency.

e.g. 1 find the mode of the following distribution 5,7,4,5,8,9,4,7,5,6,7

mode = 5

e.g. 2 find the mode of the following distribution & respect it in graph. 2,4,8,5,4,3,6,7,4,2,8,4,3,5,4,2,4,

No Fre No Fre No Fre

2 3 5 2 8 2

3 2 6 1

4 6 7 1 = 4

In the above, the highest frequency is 6 and the number with this frequency is 4

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

MERITS OF MODE

1. The mode can easily be obtained from graph
2. it is not affected by extreme value
3. it is easy to understand

DEMERIT OF MODE

1. the mode is difficult to determine when there are more than a mode
2. the mode can be a very poor average
3. the mode is not an ideal measure of central tendency

basic economics problems

Just as key issues of scarcity and want, opportunity cost and idea of scale of preference attract the interest of student of economics, so should be also address keen interest on the basic economics problems of a society be it capitalist, socialist, communist, welfarist, their dimension and the way they are solved.

what to produce

Resources allocation is fundamental in every society and or house hold for instance how much should government allocation to educate or how much should a house hold or food and other household needs in free market economist (capitalist). This allocation is done through central planning no matters while system is used resources are allocated with the sale aim of satisfying the want of the whole citizen of society.

how to produce

No matter the type of the economic, a society adopts, they should always be to use that method of production of goods and services will archive maximum possible result in agriculture for instance, one can empty a lot of fertilizer, labour and machinery on a small piece of land and achieve maximum production, this is referred to as

INTENSIVE FARMING:- On the other land a large area of land can be used with less amount of fertilizer, labour and machinery and still achieve some amount of agriculture commodities, this is called

EXTENSIVE FARMING:- Similar method are possible industries

for whom to produce

The problem here is how to distribute the national product among the members of the society. In respective of the types of economics system adopted good and services are produced mainly to satisfy human want, why then should some members consume a large part of the national product while some consume a small part? Some people agree that those who earn large incomes consume more, while those who earn small incomes consume less. This agreement raises another question, why do some individual earn large incomes while other earn small incomes?

EFFECIENCY OF RESOURCES USE

Since the resources in the society are limited relative to the demand for them are those scarce resources being fully utilized it is common to note that in most developing countries, resources are being wasted or made idle although no government would plane to waste resources are wasted in some counties there are large numbers of employed people who fraud and skilled under this situation, resources are being wasted in order case it might be raw materials that are not fully utilized government country to see that the country resources are fully used for the benefit of the people of the country.