In business it is essential for owners to consider important factors when mapping out their business objectives. Economics used as a tool to solve coordination problems. They include what and how much product to produce, how to produce their product, and for whom they are producing. In order to effectively answer these questions, economics is used. Colander (2006) describes economics as “the study of how human beings coordinate their wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political realities of the society” (p. 4). The foundation of economics is based on several factors that assist in understanding an economy.
These factors include economic reasoning, economic insights, economic institutions, and economic policy options. Economic reasoning is a way of thinking that weighs an option based on costs and benefits. Terms such as marginal costs, marginal benefits, and opportunity cost explain economic reasoning in more detail. Marginal costs and benefits are the additional cost and benefit to you respectively over and above those that you have already obtained. Opportunity cost is the cost forfeited by not selecting an option in favor of another. Insights in economics are the theories that have been discovered by economists that are useful in understanding trends. One of the most noted is the invisible hand theory. Economic institutions include but are not limited to laws, common practices, and organizations in a society, are the basis for understanding whether economic theory can be applied to reality (Colander, 2006, p. 14). It is very common for economic institutions to vary by country. Finally, the action or inaction taken by the government to influence economic actions are called economic policy options. These options are conside ...