Why do we study economics?
Understand the way the world works: An useful perspective to explain various events, including economic policies
Develop rational thinking, guiding us to make correct individual decision
经济一词来源于希腊语，意思 是“管理家庭的人”。
A household and an economy face many decisions:
一个家庭和经济体面临很多决策：
Who will work? 谁去工作？
What goods and how many of them should be produced? 应该生产什么物品？应该生产多少？
Make consistent judgments on economic phenomena
Basic knowledge for our major of business and economics
What Is Economics Like Interesting economics: idea Boring economics: technique Useful economics: Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Fed
Economics 经济学
Society and Scarce Resources: 社会和稀缺资源：
The management of society’s resources is important because resources are scarce. 因为资源是稀缺的，所以社会资 源的管理就很重要。
Scarcity . . . 稀缺…Biblioteka Course Policy
Attending class is strongly recommended, although not required
English is required when writing final exam
Final grade comes mainly from your performance in final exam. Session tests or mid term tests are also counted.
Reference Textbooks Paul Samuelson and William :Economics J. Stiglitz: Economics
Good examples William Baumol and Alan Blinder:
Economics: Principles and Policy
A household and an economy face many decisions:
一个家庭和经济体面临很多决策：
What resources should be used in production? 应该用什么资源生产？
At what price should the goods be sold? 物品的销售价格应该是多少？
Principles of Economics
Third Edition by
N. Gregory Mankiw
经济学原理
（第三版）
Brief Description About This Course
What do we mean by Western Economics?
Western economics versus Marxism Economics (political economy)
Economics (in general) A useful definition
Economics is the study of how a society allocates scarce resources among alternative uses to satisfy human wants Basic Principle in this course
. . . means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot produce all the goods and services people wish to have. …意思是说，社会拥有有限的资源，不 能生产出人们想要的所有物品与劳务。
You are required to apply economics to explain various economic phenomena
Ten Principles of Economics
经济学十大原理
Chapter 1
Economy. . . 经济…
. . . The word economy comes from a Greek word for “one who manages a household.”
How to study economics: Attend class Read textbook: guided by teaching Do exercises Rewrite your class notes Consult instructors
How to use this textbook Guided by class notes Reorganize the contents in a way friendly to your thinking Read summary in the end of each chapter Checking the glossary in the end of this book Refer to other textbooks