Introductory Economics, Series (17 Parts)
- Synopsis
- Series introducing the tools economists use to understand how the economy functions and providing insight into the policy decisions governments make. Presenters are Ellen Roseman and Professor John Palmer of the University of Western Ontario.
1: Describes economics as the study of choices; the concept of opportunity cost illustrates the study of choices. Also examines the trade-off between efficiency and equity objectives; positive and normative statements; supply and demand.
2: How economists use elasticity to measure how demand responds to price; factors that cause shifts in supply and demand; how ‘the invisible hand’ works in free markets; what happens when price controls are imposed.
3: The theory of household behaviour; the law of diminishing marginal utility; the household’s optimal purchase rule; how diminishing marginal utility contributes to consumer surplus; how this concept can be applied to evaluate user fees for public services.
4: The theory of the firm, which is based on the assumption of profit maximisation; the optimal hiring rule and the optimal output decision; how to illustrate a firm’s revenue and cost data.
5: The short-run supply curve for a competitive industry; what determines long-run equilibrium in a competitive economy; ‘the invisible hand’; some of the desirable features of this competitive outcome.
6: The inefficiencies of monopoly and how a government-created monopoly can be eliminated; three methods of removing an inefficient natural monopoly, which is more difficult.
7: The problem of public good associated wity a dramatic spillover and examine the beneficial and detrimental externalities associated with a less extensive spillover. Also looks at how pollution, a classic example of a detrimental externality, can be limited.
8: Why a decentralised market economy produces a wide range of income levels; ways in which incomes can be redistributed; the effects of welfare and income tax programmes.
9: The benefits of free trade; the concept of specialisation, distinguishing between absolute advantage and comparative advantage; the need for adjustment assistance for displaced workers.
10: How cycles in the economy develop - measuring unemployment, inflation, and gross domestic product; aggreate supply and demand, and why business cycles occur.
11: Fiscal policy: the aggregate demand curve; how the equilibrium level of GDP is determined and how the multiplier process works.
12: Effectiveness of fiscal policy: channels through which fiscal policy can work, how government policy can alter net exports and how a well-designed fiscal policy operates.
13: Government attempts to stabilise the economy, focusing on monetary policy; fractional reserve banking with the deposits in chartered banks as a major component of a country’s money supply; how chartered bank reserves can be increased.
14: How interest rates are determined, by combining the supply and demand of money; flexible and fixed exchange rates; how monetary policy works in large and small economies.
15: Monetary and fiscal policy for a large economy - the crowding-out effect, the short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment, and how stabilisation policies with long lags can affect business cycles.
16: Analsyses a small, open economy, such as Canada’s, where financial markets are integrated with world financial markets. Shows that the interest rate of a small, open economy is determined by the rest of the world, and looks at the implications of this.
17: How the growth in the standard of living occurs and what government policy can do to affect this process; how growth policy differs from stabilisation policy. - Language
- English
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Video; Videocassette. VHS. col. 17 x 30 min.
- Year of production
- 1993
- Availability
- Sale; 1997 sale: £29.50 (+VAT +p&p) each
- Uses
- 'A’-level and 1st-year undergraduate economics.
- Subjects
- Economics
- Keywords
- economics theory; monetary systems; monopolies; policy studies; unemployment
Credits
- Cast
Ellen Roseman John Palmer
Sections
- Title
- Issues and methods of economics, The
- Synopsis
- 1: Describes economics as the study of choices; the concept of opportunity cost illustrates the study of choices. Also examines the trade-off between efficiency and equity objectives; positive and normative statements; supply and demand.
- Title
- Supply and demand
- Synopsis
- 2: How economists use elasticity to measure how demand responds to price; factors that cause shifts in supply and demand; how 'the invisible hand' works in free markets; what happens when price controls are imposed.
- Title
- Demand theory: household behaviour
- Synopsis
- 3: The theory of household behaviour; the law of diminishing marginal utility; the household's optimal purchase rule; how diminishing marginal utility contributes to consumer surplus; how this concept can be applied to evaluate user fees for public servic
- Title
- Supply theory: the behaviour of profit-maximising firms
- Synopsis
- 4: The theory of the firm, which is based on the assumption of profit maximisation; the optimal hiring rule and the optimal output decision; how to illustrate a firm's revenue and cost data.
- Title
- Competition versus central planning
- Synopsis
- 5: The short-run supply curve for a competitive industry; what determines long-run equilibrium in a competitive economy; 'the invisible hand'; some of the desirable features of this competitive outcome.
- Title
- Market failure: monopoly
- Synopsis
- 6: The inefficiencies of monopoly and how a government-created monopoly can be eliminated; three methods of removing an inefficient natural monopoly, which is more difficult.
- Title
- Market failure: externalities
- Synopsis
- 7: The problem of public good associated wity a dramatic spillover and examine the beneficial and detrimental externalities associated with a less extensive spillover. Also looks at how pollution, a classic example of a detrimental externality, can be lim
- Title
- Income distribution and the tax system
- Synopsis
- 8: Why a decentralised market economy produces a wide range of income levels; ways in which incomes can be redistributed; the effects of welfare and income tax programmes.
- Title
- Free trade
- Synopsis
- 9: The benefits of free trade; the concept of specialisation, distinguishing between absolute advantage and comparative advantage; the need for adjustment assistance for displaced workers.
- Title
- Unemployment, inflation and national output
- Synopsis
- 10: How cycles in the economy develop - measuring unemployment, inflation, and gross domestic product; aggreate supply and demand, and why business cycles occur.
- Title
- GDP and the multiplier process
- Synopsis
- 11: Fiscal policy: the aggregate demand curve; how the equilibrium level of GDP is determined and how the multiplier process works.
- Title
- Fiscal policy and the deficit
- Synopsis
- 12: Effectiveness of fiscal policy: channels through which fiscal policy can work, how government policy can alter net exports and how a well-designed fiscal policy operates.
- Title
- Money and banking
- Synopsis
- 13: Government attempts to stabilise the economy, focusing on monetary policy; fractional reserve banking with the deposits in chartered banks as a major component of a country's money supply; how chartered bank reserves can be increased.
- Title
- Interest rates and exchange rates
- Synopsis
- 14: How interest rates are determined, by combining the supply and demand of money; flexible and fixed exchange rates; how monetary policy works in large and small economies.
- Title
- Pitfalls in stabilization policy
- Synopsis
- 15: Monetary and fiscal policy for a large economy - the crowding-out effect, the short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment, and how stabilisation policies with long lags can affect business cycles.
- Title
- Stabilization policy for a small open economy
- Synopsis
- 16: Analsyses a small, open economy, such as Canada's, where financial markets are integrated with world financial markets. Shows that the interest rate of a small, open economy is determined by the rest of the world, and looks at the implications of this
- Title
- Growth and development
- Synopsis
- 17: How the growth in the standard of living occurs and what government policy can do to affect this process; how growth policy differs from stabilisation policy.
Production Company
- Name
TV Ontario
- Web
- http://www.tvo.org External site opens in new window
- Phone
- +1 416 484 2886
- Fax
- +1 416 484 2896
- Address
- Box 200
Station Q
Toronto
Ontario
M4T 2T1
Canada
Distributor
- Name
Viewtech Educational Media
- Notes
- NB. Viewtech ceased trading in 2014 and the company’s products are no longer in distribution
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