Economics Primer

✍ Scribed by Linda Low

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 138
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Economics Primer is a simplified, illustrated text for non-economics and economics readers alike. It introduces fundamental concepts and demonstrates their applications to day-to-day use for employers and employees in the private and public sectors. The aim is to enable all in society, at home and abroad to understand economic relationships as affecting all at large. While politics remains the primary driver of international affairs, the economics grounding including technology is as purposeful.

This primer serves as a stepping stone to branch out into other fields of economics and business to understand how world events work based on the economic concepts of efficiency and equality to the extent possible including the emerging issues of health, environment and security in a globalised world.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1 Introduction
Introduction
Circular flow
Closed and open economies
Laws of demand and supply
Movement and shift
Elasticity
Cross price elasticity
Income elasticity
Structure of economics
Real world
Structure of book
Chapter 2 Production Theory
Introduction
Production theory
Isoquant
Isocost
Producer equilibrium
Cost curves
Output decision
Market supply
Natural resources, renewable and non-renewable
Inter-temporal choice
Chapter 3 Market Structure
Introduction
Competition spectrum
Perfect competition
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly
Monopoly
Pricing strategies
Law of diminishing returns
Returns to scale
Economies of scale
Competitive environment
Applications
Chapter 4 Consumer Theory
Introduction
Consumer theory
Consumption function
Utility
Law of diminishing utility
Indifference curve
Budget line
Price consumption curve
Engel curve
Substitution effect and income effect
Types of good
Factors determining market demand
Market demand
Chapter 5 Labour Market
Introduction
Demand for labour
Unemployment
Elasticity of demand for labour
Supply of labour
Minimum wage or workfare
Substitution and income effects
Labour force participation rate
Productivity of labour
Total factor productivity
Roles of NWC, NTUC
Chapter 6 Government
Introduction
Nature of public and private goods
Role of government
Fiscal policy
Monetary policy and role of money
Central bank
Quantity theory of money
Government expenditure policy
Government intervention and consequences
Exchange rate policy
Incomes policy
Public sector reform
Chapter 7 International Economy
Introduction
Theories of trade
Gains from trade, protection of infant industry
International exchange rates
Balance of payments
Economic integration
Singapore as a trading nation
Chapter 8 Macroeconomics
Introduction
GDP to GNP
Inflation, imported inflation
Index of misery
Determinants of national income
Aggregate demand (AD) and aggregate supply (AS)
Macroeconomic disequilibria
Policy options
Chapter 9 Geoeconomics and Geopolitics
Introduction
Geoeconomics and geopolitics
China in 21st-century globalisation, ICT, digital economy, fintech and blockchain
Singapore’s CFE and its Greater Southern Waterfront (GSW)
Conclusion