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number of items: 20
total items: 2599
item list element: Adverse Selection
item list element: Asymmetric Information
item list element: Ceteris Paribus
item list element: Deadweight Loss
item list element: Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
item list element: Demand Curve
item list element: Supply and Demand
item list element: Opportunity Cost
item list element: Cross Elasticity of Demand
item list element: Antitrust Policies
item list element: Foundations for Data Science
item list element: Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus
item list element: Capital Markets
item list element: A Guide to Dating in Academia
item list element: Top Recruiting Trends You Need to Know in 2020
item list element: Your Guide to Student Recruitment Tools & Trends in 2020
item list element: Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Kremer win the 2019 Nobel Prize
item list element: The soft skills you need to succeed
item list element: Game Theory
item list element: Consumer Theory
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Adverse Selection
type: CreativeWork
title: Adverse Selection
description: Common examples of adverse selection include the market for insurance and the labour market In the insurance market, providers know less about their customers’ risk levels than the customers themselves, and riskier customers have a greater interest in purchasing insurance. Risky customers then dominate the insurance market, increasing the cost to providers because there are more claims from such customers. The price of insurance (the insurance premium) then rises, which also affects less risky customers, who may then choose not to purchase insurance coverage at all. Adverse selection thus leads to a smaller, less efficient market than a market in which insurance companies knew everything about their customers In the labor market, employers know less about job candidates than the candidates themselves, and unsuitable candidates are attracted to job descriptions and job adverts promising good salaries and working conditions. When such candidates apply for jobs they dilute the pool of potential employees and, in the absence of a mechanism for employers to screen candidates for their suitability, this reduces the value of employees to the employers, who in turn offer lower wages and benefits. Suitable candidates are then less attracted to the jobs. Again, adverse selection leads to a less efficient market than one in which employers had full information about job candidates. Adverse selection is potentially very harmful as it can mean that some people obtain jobs where they will do serious damage to others. A particularly dark example of this is child molesters being attracted to jobs which grant them access to children, such as schools and clubs providing activities for children. Not only do unlucky children then suffer, but trust in the market is eroded and the “right” people stop participating in the market. This is why the teaching profession is highly regulated and laws exist to enforce a thorough screening of applicants for such roles. Further reading George Akerl…
disambiguating description: Adverse selection occurs as a case of asymmetric information whenever a more well-informed market player uses information to take advantage of another player in the market who does not hold that information. In turn, this adversely affects participation in the market.
date posted: 2020-01-07T11:06:54Z
date modified: 2025-03-26T17:26:39Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Labour Market
keywords: Economic Terms
keywords: Adverse Selection
keywords: Insurance
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Asymmetric Information
type: CreativeWork
title: Asymmetric Information
description: In classical economic theory, information is assumed to be complete and evenly distributed among market players: each player knows how the other players value the items being traded in the market. This simplifies the analysis of the market because the players’ actions will be certain and predictable. Market outcomes (prices and quantities) can then be easily calculated. However in reality, market players tend not to know everything about each other. That is, information in the market is asymmetrically distributed. Information is valuable, and better informed market players can take advantage of their superior information to achieve better outcomes than less informed players. For example, sellers of goods typically hold more information about the goods they are selling than do prospective buyers. Sellers can reveal information that makes the goods seem more valuable to buyers, while not disclosing any information that would reduce their value to buyers. The price of the good will then be higher than it would have been in a market with complete information. This is one reason why firms spend so much money on marketing and advertising! Other asymmetric information examples include if a homeowner wanted to sell their house, they would have greater information about it than the buyer. Asymmetric information refers to this unequal knowledge between buyers and sellers. Asymmetric information can also be present in financial markets, where insiders or large investors have access to information that is not available to the general public, giving them an unfair advantage in making investment decisions. In all of these cases, one party has more information than the other party, which can create an imbalance. Understanding the structure of information in a market (i.e. how the information is distributed: who knows what about whom) is crucial for predicting what will happen in that market. This can be more important for predicting outcomes than holding the information itself. Wh…
disambiguating description: Asymmetric information in economics refers to a state where market players have different levels of information about each other’s valuations of the market. As such, their information is asymmetric, or asymmetrically distributed.
date posted: 2020-01-07T12:09:10Z
date modified: 2025-03-27T11:47:06Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Asymmetric Information
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Ceteris Paribus
type: CreativeWork
title: Ceteris Paribus
description: Ceteris is Latin for “other things” and paribus means “equal”, so the literal translation is “other things being equal”. The concept of ceteris paribus in economics it is generally understood to mean that all other things remain equal or are held constant while dealing with the issue at hand. Video Note: In the video, “ceteris” is pronounced with a "ke". However, in many other places it will be pronounced “se". Our research says either is fine. Our narrator just found it more natural in their accent to say the former. But if you have strong feelings about Latin pronunciations do let us know. As an example of ceteris paribus analysis, one may wonder what the impact of introducing a minimum wage will be on the level of employment in an economy. A basic economic analysis of the labor market, as shown in the graph just below, might consider employers’ demand for labor D and (potential) employees’ supply of it S, quantified in hours worked per period for a particular hourly rate of pay. Demand for labor increases as the hourly wage falls since it becomes cheaper to hire workers. On the other hand, the supply of labor increases as the hourly wage rises because it is more attractive for people to work at higher wages. In this free labor market, equilibrium is where demand meets supply and h* hours are purchased by employers at the hourly wage of w* (the market-clearing rate of pay). Figure 1: Involuntary unemployment in the labor market All else equal, ceteris paribus, if a minimum wage Wm is introduced that is higher than the market-clearing rate of pay w* then employers will demand less labor and there will be a reduction in employment (total hours worked decrease from h* to hm), creating involuntary unemployment. Although there are workers in the labor market who would like to supply more hours’ work than hm at the minimum wage Wm employers are unwilling to pay for more than hm hours at the new rate. Note how this basic analysis ignores other effects of the increase in …
disambiguating description: When economists say “ceteris paribus” they are talking about the direct effect of X on Y while assuming that the rest of the world stands still.
date posted: 2020-01-07T12:30:34Z
date modified: 2026-06-25T11:58:01Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Ceteris Paribus
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: econometricsstatisticsquantitative
disciplines: economicthoughtmethodology
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Econometrics, Statistics and Quantitative Methods (JEL C)
discipline labels: Economic Thought & Methodology (JEL B)

Deadweight Loss
type: CreativeWork
title: Deadweight Loss
description: In economic theory, free markets are beneficial to society because they allow consumers and producers to exchange goods and services for money according to their own maximization of personal utility. Both sides of the market gain at the equilibrium price; we call these gains consumer surplus and producer surplus. In a simple economy with just one market, the sum of consumer and producer surplus equates to social welfare: the market is then understood to be doing something good for society. If the government decides to intervene in a market, for example by levying a tax on an item which is being sold by producers to consumers, then this will force a new equilibrium in the market. Consider the market in the graph below, with producer supply S, consumer demand D and a free-market equilibrium of q* units sold at p* per unit. If the government introduces a simple unit tax (a certain amount of tax per unit of the item sold) to be collected from the producers, this forces a parallel shift of the supply to the left and an effective new supply curve of S’. This shift occurs because the tax increases the cost of selling the item, which reduces the amount of the item that producers wish to sell as they make less profit off of it. The new equilibrium point is where D crosses S’ at a quantity q’ and a retail or consumer price of p’cons. Although the item is sold at price p’cons this new price includes the tax and the producer only receives the price p’prod per unit. The government then receives (p’cons – p’prod)q’ in tax revenue. Figure 1: Deadweight loss produced from a tax on a competitive market Note how the new quantity q’ is less than the original quantity q* (since less of the item is bought at a higher price). Therefore both consumer surplus and producer surplus are reduced. Some of the original consumer surplus and producer surplus has been transformed into tax revenue for the government. However, the government is not able to recoup all of the reduction in total surplus…
disambiguating description: A deadweight loss is the cost to society from economic inefficiency that occurs when a free-market equilibrium cannot be reached. This can be due to a market intervention like a price ceiling, the dominance of a monopoly, or some other shock to supply and/or demand.
date posted: 2020-01-13T10:44:00Z
date modified: 2026-06-25T12:08:41Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Deadweight Loss
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
type: CreativeWork
title: Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
description: For example, the production of fruit and vegetables requires sufficient land of the appropriate type with water and sunlight. It also requires labor and machinery to plant, cultivate and harvest the crop, as well as packaging and people or machines to present the produce for sale. Similarly, the production of a school education requires trained teachers and administrators, books and other learning materials, as well as buildings and/or other space to host the education. Applied to the first example of producing fruit and vegetables, the law of diminishing marginal returns implies that increasing the input of one factor such as land, while holding the input of the other factors (labor and machinery) constant, will increase the amount of the fruit and vegetables produced at a decreasing rate as more land is added. That is, each additional square meter of land, for fixed levels of the other factors, will yield smaller increases in output of fruit and vegetables. Applied to the second example, the first teacher or the first book will add much to the education provided. But, each subsequent teacher employed without increasing the availability of learning materials, administrators, or physical space, will expand education at a decreasing rate. The law of diminishing marginal returns can be represented graphically in two dimensions with the (total) return R as a concave function of the input i of a single factor of production (while the inputs of other factors are held constant). As more of this single factor of production is employed, for the same unit increases in input Δi, the additional (i.e. marginal) return diminishes ΔR” < ΔR’ < ΔR: Figure 1: Law of diminishing marginal returns for a revenue function At first glance, the law of diminishing marginal returns might seem to contradict the concept of economies of scale whereby increasing inputs should generate increasing, not diminishing, returns. Note however that the law of diminishing marginal returns relates specific…
disambiguating description: The production of goods and services requires the input of various factors of production. The law of diminishing marginal returns states that as the input of a factor of production increases, ceteris paribus, the additional output from each additional unit of that input decreases.
date posted: 2020-01-13T10:08:13Z
date modified: 2026-06-29T09:41:34Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: businesseconomics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)

Demand Curve
type: CreativeWork
title: Demand Curve
description: The following graph shows the demand curve for a typical good or service. As the item’s price (vertical axis) falls from pD1 to pD2 to pD3, the quantity demanded (horizontal axis) rises from qD1 to qD2 to qD3, and vice versa. As price rises, quantity demanded falls. Figure 1: A linear demand curve Note how the demand curve shown might be representing the preferences of a single individual for the item: the individual decides to buy more (less) of the item as its price falls (rises). This movement along the demand curve shows the inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded, which is known as the law of demand. Alternatively, it represents the quantities of the item demanded by all participants in the market at various prices, i.e. the market demand curve. The market demand curve is simply the sum of all individual demand curves for the item in the economy. In general, firms will be interested in estimating market demand rather than individual demand for their products and services. A demand curve need not be linear (hence the name “curve”!) and its slope at each point represents (but is not the same as) the price elasticity of demand. This shows how sensitive the individual is or consumers in the market are to changes in price. Demand curves are drawn at a given level of income for the individual or consumers in the market. Should the income level change, the demand curve will shift inwards (shift to the left) or outwards (shift to the right), depending on whether income has risen or fallen and the item’s income elasticity of demand. For “normal” consumer goods and services, greater quantities will be demanded at every price if income rises and the demand curve shifts outwards to the right. For so-called “inferior” consumer goods and services, lower quantities will be demanded at each price if income rises. The demand curve will shift inwards to the left, as consumption of such goods and services is replaced by consumption of other goods and services tha…
disambiguating description: A demand curve shows the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity of the good demanded, either by an individual or by all participants in the market. Demand curves are downward-sloping for most items as greater quantities are demanded at lower prices.
date posted: 2020-01-13T11:13:09Z
date modified: 2026-06-25T12:12:47Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Tom Mckenzie
keywords: Demand Curve
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Supply and Demand
type: CreativeWork
title: Supply and Demand
description: A basic economic idea is that the price for a good or service will eventually settle at a point when quantity demanded and quantity supplied are equal (assuming all other factors remain equal). This is referred to as the equilibrium. Our article on market equilibrium describes how this process works in the economy. The consumer side of market equilibrium is demand. Quantity demanded depends, with all other factors being equal, on the price of the commodity. Of course, all other factors are never constant: other goods in the market, the preferences of consumers, and many other things influence the demand for a good. The demand curve generally slopes downward, showing that consumers want more of a product when it is cheaper, and less when it is more expensive. Demand is also dependent on many other factors: whether complements or substitutes are available, the amount of income the consumer has, the elasticity of demand, and more. Meanwhile, the supply curve typically slopes upward. This shows that firms like to sell goods that have higher prices, and will offer to sell a large quantity of a good if the price is high. But when the price is low, firms offer less of the good for sale. Other factors that influence supply include production costs, the difficulty of competition, the presence of taxes or subsidies, and more. For more about supply and demand, and how they interact, see our article about Market Equilibrium.
disambiguating description: “Supply and demand” is probably one of the first things people learn about economics. Supply refers to the quantity of a product or service that producers are willing to supply at each price, while demand refers to the quantity consumers are willing to buy at each price at a given point in time.
date posted: 2020-01-09T14:22:32Z
date modified: 2023-08-09T17:42:05Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: James Matthew Alston
keywords: Supply and Demand
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: macroeconomicsmonetary
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: business
disciplines: businesseconomics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics (JEL E)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)

Opportunity Cost
type: CreativeWork
title: Opportunity Cost
description: A simple example of this: the opportunity cost of using a machine to make and sell one product (call it Product A) is the lost potential revenue from selling another product (Product B) that could have been made using the machine instead. That is, Product B cannot be produced, and its unrealized revenue is the opportunity cost of using the machine to make Product A. If Product A is worth €50, and Product B is worth €35, then this opportunity cost for making Product A is €35 - €50 = -€15. For Product B, it is €50 - €35 = €15. This might seem confusing at first, but it makes logical sense. A suboptimal choice (Product B) should have a positive opportunity cost, because it eliminates the chance for a higher return by choosing the better alternative (Product A). Meanwhile, Product A’s opportunity cost is negative because the “cost” of choosing Product A is the “opportunity” to make a worse choice and lose money. To extend this example, if the machine involved in production is specialized to only make Product A, it may seem like there is no opportunity cost involved in the production process. Since the machine couldn’t produce anything else anyway, no “sacrifice” of other products is needed. However, this is not correct. The resources used as inputs for Product A have an opportunity cost of whatever next-best purpose they may have been used for. This opportunity cost is known as an implicit cost, since money is not actually exchanged. On the other hand, explicit costs are simply the money given out. In this case, the explicit cost is the price to buy the specialized machine. Opportunity cost considers both explicit and implicit costs, which is a key difference between opportunity cost and how cost and profit are typically measured in accounting or business contexts. You might be wondering where we stop counting additional opportunity costs. If this company sold Product A for €50, what is the opportunity cost? The lost chance to sell Product B for €35 instead? Or is it th…
disambiguating description: Opportunity cost refers to the loss of the next-best positive outcomes of a choice when an alternative decision is made. In other words, the next best alternative that is given up is the opportunity cost. This cost does not only refer to money, but any lost benefits that the other choice could have bestowed. Opportunity costs are involved in every decision that is made, even if they are not obvious at first.
date posted: 2020-01-09T14:19:37Z
date modified: 2026-06-29T09:57:50Z
language: en
keywords: Opportunity Cost
keywords: James Matthew Alston
keywords: Sean McClung
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Cross Elasticity of Demand
type: CreativeWork
title: Cross Elasticity of Demand
description: \begin{equation*}\epsilon_{AB} = \frac{\Delta\mathit{q}_{A}}{\Delta\mathit{p}_{B}} = \frac{\frac{{dq}_{A}}{\mathit{q}_{A}}}{\frac{{dp}_{B}}{p_B}}\end{equation*} In microeconomics, individuals' utility (or material well-being) is assumed to depend on their access to, or consumption of, bundles of items. It is also contingent on individuals seeking to maximize their utility. The precise relationship between the consumption of particular items and an individual’s utility is determined by the person’s preferences. Individuals are constrained in their consumption by their budgets and by the prices of the items. If the price of an item increases, then the individual’s ability to obtain utility through consumption of that item is reduced. It may be possible to obtain utility more efficiently through consumption of a different item instead. The extent to which this is possible depends on the substitutability of other items with the item whose price has increased. For example, an individual may like to consume hazelnuts and peanuts. Ideally the individual likes to consume both types of nuts (due to diminishing marginal utility). However, if the price of one nut type – say peanuts – increases, then the individual can afford fewer peanuts. This would lead them to reduce peanut consumption and replace some of this product with hazelnuts. Hazelnuts and peanuts are thus substitutes in consumption. Note that the reverse is also true if the price of peanuts falls and becomes more affordable. The individual will then obtain utility more efficiently by reducing hazelnut consumption and increasing peanut consumption. This means that in the case of substitutes, the cross elasticity of demand is positive ϵHazelnutsPeanuts > 0. The interrelationship between items is key in the cross elasticity of demand. Some items are consumed together as complements rather than as replacements or substitutes. For example, fuel is required to power vehicles. If the price of either one of these items cha…
disambiguating description: The cross elasticity of demand (or cross-price elasticity of demand) ϵAB refers to the sensitivity of the demand for item A qA to changes in the price of item B pB:
date posted: 2020-01-07T14:20:00Z
date modified: 2023-05-15T06:53:33Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Cross elasticity of demand
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: econometricsstatisticsquantitative
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Econometrics, Statistics and Quantitative Methods (JEL C)

Antitrust Policies
type: CreativeWork
title: Antitrust Policies
description: In microeconomics it is assumed that firms aim to maximize profits. They can do this by reducing unit costs through economies of scale, and/or by growing big enough to push competing firms out of the market, thus reducing competitive price pressure on their revenues. Some firms seek to grow big quickly by taking over, merging, or coordinating activities with other firms. Such collaboration between firms is known as a “trust” and it can lead to a reduction in market competition with higher prices for consumers. The existence of a trust can also act as a barrier to entry, making it more difficult for smaller firms to participate in the market. Governments representing consumers and smaller firms may hence choose to intervene in the market with legislation against the trust, i.e. antitrust policies. Antitrust policies gained prominence through the (US American) Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This Act outlaws the formation of monopolies and other practices that restrict trade. One of the most famous antitrust cases is that of the Standard Oil Company founded by John D. Rockefeller. By the early 1900s, Standard Oil had grown both organically (by increasing its own sales) and inorganically (by purchasing competing firms as well as client and supplier firms) to control an estimated 90% of the US market for petroleum. In 1911 the US Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil constituted an illegal monopoly. The Court concluded that Standard Oil had restrained trade through its dominance of the market, increasing prices, lowering output, and diminishing the quality of the oil traded. The Court ordered that Standard Oil be divided into 34 separate entities. National governments subsequently set up agencies to design and implement antitrust policies. Such agencies include the Federal Trade Commission (USA), the Competition and Markets Authority (UK) and the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, Germany). Antitrust policies are also enshrined in European law, through Articles 85 …
disambiguating description: An antitrust policy is a law or other government regulation that limits the dominance of large firms and promotes competition in the market.
date posted: 2020-01-07T11:20:37Z
date modified: 2022-05-13T14:36:07Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Antitrust Policies
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: publiceconomicspolicy
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Public Economics & Economic Policy (JEL H)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Foundations for Data Science
type: Course
title: Foundations for Data Science
description: Earning the Certificate To receive a Certificate of Completion for the Foundations for Data Science program, you must complete all three courses – R, Python, and Statistics. Tuition $129 per online course. Time to Complete Certificate The program’s online courses are self-paced and available on-demand for 90 days after the date of enrollment. This enables you to complete the program at your own pace. The Introduction to Statistics course takes roughly 6-8 hours to complete, and R and Python each take roughly 12-15 hours. Completion times will vary depending on your familiarity with the topic and experience with online learning. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) You will earn 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for each course completed within this certificate program. CEUs cannot be applied toward any Stanford degree. CEU transferability is subject to the receiving institution’s policies. Record of Completion: Students will receive a Record of Completion for each course they complete upon finishing the course requirements within 7-10 business days. Questions 650-204-3984 stanford-datascience@lists.stanford.edu Submit an inquiry to receive more information.
disambiguating description: Break into the rapidly growing field of data science with Stanford University's Foundations for Data Science professional program. Comprised of three comprehensive and introductory online courses, this program will teach you the foundational programming and statistics skills you need to kick-start a career in data science—no prior experience necessary. Learn from Stanford faculty with step-by-step instructions, listen to insights from industry experts, and develop your understanding through case studies and real-world examples. The program includes ungraded programming exercises to help build and practice your skills. No final exam or capstone project is required.
date posted: 2020-05-07T10:08:32Z
date modified: 2024-01-10T15:55:58Z
hiring organization: Stanford University
job location: Place
  address: PostalAddress
    address country: US
job location type: TELECOMMUTE
employment type: online
language: en
keywords: Statistics and python
keywords: professional program
keywords: Data science
type: course
disciplines: economics
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: econometricsstatisticsquantitative
disciplines: datascience
disciplines: economicsystems
disciplines: statistics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Econometrics, Statistics and Quantitative Methods (JEL C)
discipline labels: Data Science
discipline labels: Economic Systems (JEL P)
discipline labels: Statistics
more info url: https://online.stanford.edu/programs/foundations-data-science

Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus
type: CreativeWork
title: Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus
description: In competitive markets for consumer goods and services there are typically many producers selling the items and many consumers purchasing them. Participation in the free market is more attractive for producers, the higher the price at which they can sell their product. The quantity of the item offered on the market thus increases as the price increases and the supply curve is generally upward-sloping. Conversely, participation in the market is more attractive for consumers, the lower the price at which they can purchase the item. The quantity demanded thus increases as the price falls and the demand curve is generally downward-sloping. The market equilibrium, consisting of the item’s price p* and quantity q* bought and sold, is determined where supply meets demand, i.e. where the supply and demand curves cross. For lower quantities of the item than q*, consumers in the market would be willing to pay a higher price than p*. However in the equilibrium they are able to purchase and consume all q* of the item at price p* per unit. The difference between the higher prices they would have paid for the lower quantities and those lower quantities priced at p* is the consumer surplus. This is a gain for consumers in terms of the value that they attach to the item in excess of the price they pay for it. The consumer surplus is represented in the graph below by the area below the demand curve D stretching to price level p*. Figure 1: Depiction of consumer and producer surplus in a competitive market Similarly, for lower quantities of the item than q* producers in the market would be willing to accept a lower price than p*. This is because typically it’s cheaper to produce fewer units. However, in the equilibrium they are able to sell all q* of the item at price p* per unit. The difference between the lower prices they would have accepted for the lower quantities and those lower quantities priced at p* is the producer surplus. This is a gain for producers in terms of the money …
disambiguating description: Consumer surplus is the gain made by consumers when they purchase an item at the competitive market price rather than the (highest) price that they would have been willing to pay for it. Analogously, producer surplus is the gain made by producers when they sell an item at the market price rather than the (lowest) price that they would also have accepted for it.
date posted: 2020-01-07T14:33:08Z
date modified: 2024-09-12T15:17:44Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)

Capital Markets
type: CreativeWork
title: Capital Markets
description: Similarly, governments often require funding beyond their tax revenues in order to commission large infrastructure projects or new services that are critical to the economy. Capital markets offer the opportunity for entrepreneurs and governments to be matched with individual and corporate investors in order to access the necessary capital. Capital markets are generally categorised into two groups: primary and secondary markets In a primary capital market, investors provide capital directly to investees, who issue a “security” (typically equity in the business, or a promise of repayment with interest) in exchange. Investors in primary capital markets tend to spend time getting to know the investee and exploring the proposed projects and ventures in detail to assess whether they can make a positive return. Examples of primary capital markets include fora where private-equity investors and providers of venture capital (also known as angel investors or venture capitalists) meet potential investees, initial public offerings (IPOs) where new stock in a company is issued to the public for the first time, as well as bond markets where firms and governments issue new debt securities to fund their spending. In a secondary capital market, a security that has already been issued in a primary market can be traded between investors. There is no need for direct contact between investors and the original investee/ issuer of the security. Public stock markets such as the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange are examples of secondary capital markets. By their public nature, secondary capital markets offer access to very high numbers of traders and they tend to be more liquid than primary capital markets. The prices of securities traded in secondary capital markets are transparent, guaranteeing fair deals to buyers and sellers. In theory, prices of securities in a capital market reflect all available information about the corresponding projects and ventures. It follow…
disambiguating description: In capital markets, capital is exchanged between investors (who supply it from their assets) and investees (who need it to fund projects and ventures). The investment horizon is usually at least one year. At its core, economics is about the efficient allocation of scarce resources. If the initial division of resources in an economy is not efficient then the individuals within that economy can be made better off through a reallocation. Capital markets exist to smooth the process of reallocation. Indeed, without capital markets, many investments that help an economy to grow would not take place. Entrepreneurs with their bright ideas need access to finance in order to turn them into reality.
date posted: 2020-01-07T12:15:19Z
date modified: 2023-03-22T15:07:59Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Capital Markets
keywords: Tom McKenzie
type: terms
disciplines: economics
disciplines: financialeconomics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: businesseconomics
disciplines: finance
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Financial Economics (JEL G)
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business Economics (JEL M)
discipline labels: Finance

A Guide to Dating in Academia
type: Article
title: A Guide to Dating in Academia
description: Browse our academic job listings The problem of disciplines Inter-disciplinary dating remains a largely theoretical proposition in academia, and that is to say nothing of the taboo against undergraduates dating postgraduates - or vice versa. Whereas the first of these can be termed horizontal dating, and carries casual social penalties, the second, vertical dating, is often viewed with much more serious contempt. Indeed, for all of academia’s professed liberalism, there remains a severely entrenched elitist platform upon which status and seniority carry significant weight. As in every social and professional situation, groups quickly form, select cliques are established and patterns followed, until soon enough you find yourself surrounded solely by people on the same course and level of study as yourself. As noted above, it is a curious thing given that the university environment should provide a warm bed - no pun intended - for open-minded dating. Clearly, though, this is rarely the case. What becomes apparent when it comes to dating in academia is that it would be helpful if short manuals on dating etiquette and rules were handed out during freshers/orientation week, as these would provide a basic layout of the hostile battlefield. And yes, the library is as hostile a terrain as you will ever come across. Just try asking somebody out in a whispering voice, or try following somebody around the bookshelf corridors without appearing like a stalker, and you will know what we mean. Libraries aside, the whole set-up seems unfriendly. Even career academics seem not to have mastered the art, often electing to stay within the safe confines of their chosen academic field. Perhaps - dare it be said? - the longer you remain in academia the greater the chances are that your dating behaviour fossilises within your disciplinary speciality. In fact, the ever-increasing wave of students and teachers turning to online dating could be a result of the unfriendly character of dating i…
disambiguating description: Dating in academia is riddled with potholes, the most immediate of which is do not stray far from your academic discipline. Curious indeed considering that the academic world is meant to be populated by an abundance of young and energetic minds from a variety of different cultures, races and ethnicities, all of whom are hungry for new information and experiences. One would think that such an environment would provide the perfect dating terrain, right? Wrong!
date posted: 2015-02-12T23:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:15:53Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: university life
keywords: Jokes
keywords: dating
keywords: Humour
type: blog
disciplines: marketing
disciplines: economics
disciplines: education
disciplines: law
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: business
disciplines: psychology
disciplines: management
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Marketing
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Education
discipline labels: Law
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business
discipline labels: Psychology
discipline labels: Management
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Top Recruiting Trends You Need to Know in 2020
type: Article
title: Top Recruiting Trends You Need to Know in 2020
description: But, before you go about implementing your recruitment strategy, there are certain trends, approaches and developments you should consider to ensure maximum success. The way recruitment works has changed significantly in recent years. In fact, research suggests that in today's world, the recruitment process is 90% candidate-driven. That said, to reach out and connect with the right talent, evolving your approach to recruitment is essential. Apart from providing niche career hubs to recruit the best researchers, professionals and students, at 11 Academia Networks (particularly INOMICS as our flagship brand), we think about helping universities, research centers, private companies and think tanks design their recruitment strategies. To help you get 2020 off to the best possible start, here are the recruitment trends you should know. Recruitment marketing By focusing on your recruitment marketing and inbound recruiting, you’ll be able to promote your brand values, services, offerings and USPs to a targeting segment of prospective employees, attracting them to your institution. Investing in this area will not only help bring the right talent to you but it will ensure a steady flow of engaged candidates on an ongoing basis. Employer branding 86% of HR professionals feel that recruitment is becoming more like marketing. Expanding on our previous point, to entice the right candidates to your organization and showcase your value, focusing on your employer branding efforts will be essential to success in 2020. Additionally, to prioritise candidate experience will help you create a good image as company as well as attract the best talent. According to Talent Board, during the last 9 year over 1,000 organisations have worked harder to define clear processes to improve the candidate experience. According to Deloitte, 87% of candidates say that a great recruitment experience can change their mind about a company they have once doubted. If you want to learn more about candidate e…
disambiguating description: With a fresh year fast approaching, you might be thinking about recruiting new members of staff - forward-thinking talent that will drive your institution forward and take its offerings to the next level.
date posted: 2019-12-10T09:45:55Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T12:59:09Z
language: en
keywords: employer branding
keywords: job recruitment
keywords: recruitment marketing
keywords: recruitment trends
keywords: social recruiting
keywords: employee referrals
keywords: diversity recruitment
keywords: talent pools
keywords: collaborative hiring
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: law
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: culturalstudies
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Law
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Cultural Studies
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Your Guide to Student Recruitment Tools & Trends in 2020
type: Article
title: Your Guide to Student Recruitment Tools & Trends in 2020
description: But, of course, if your prospects aren’t privy to what you have to offer, you’d may as well not exist. It’s harsh, but in many ways, it’s true. And, in the age of digital transformation, reaching out to the right students though the touchpoints that they’re most likely to engage with is essential to success. No longer is demonstrating your values, telling your story and showcasing your offerings online optional - these days, if you want to get budding higher academics excited about your institution, you have to get digital. To help you enhance your student recruitment efforts in 2020, we’ve put together a guide that outlines current student recruitment trends, in addition to a rundown of the tools that will help you connect with your audience in the most valuable way possible. Student recruitment trends A UCAS report revealed that in the UK alone, student applications for higher education dropped by 5% in 2017, with a 7% drop in the EU. But, while this may be the case, understanding your audience while remaining abreast of the latest recruitment trends will help you boost your enrollment rates this year, and beyond. To help you steer your student recruitment efforts in the right direction this year, here are the three latest recruitment trends that you should know: Emerging technology continues to evolve: In recent times, recruitment and technology have become almost synonymous, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools and platforms becoming increasingly sophisticated, and tailored, to specific goals, needs and preferences. With such platforms, potential candidates are presented to the user based on their skills, background, personal goals and personality type. By using tech-driven recruitment platforms, you’ll be able to understand your target demographic on a deeper level, while sourcing potential candidates that you can potentially reach out to and engage. Data-driven recruitment equals success: You might use digital data for a number of …
disambiguating description: With a fresh year in full swing, it’s time to start thinking about fresh blood, or in other words: attracting new, prosperous students to your institution. You know that you’re worthy; you know that you have something unique to offer, and you know that you have the faculty, as well as the facilities, to provide an exciting, inspirational academic experience.
date posted: 2019-12-10T13:02:09Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T15:51:15Z
language: en
keywords: student recruitment
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: artarthistory
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: culturalstudies
disciplines: history
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Art & Art History
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Cultural Studies
discipline labels: History
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Kremer win the 2019 Nobel Prize
type: Article
title: Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Kremer win the 2019 Nobel Prize
description: Michael Kremer showed the efficacy of experiments in economics with his research (alongside other colleagues) in Kenya in the 1990s. These experiments were aimed at increasing the effectiveness of schooling. Kremer received his PhD from Harvard University in 1992 and is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. Abhijit Banerjee is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT; he formerly taught at Princeton and Harvard. He earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1988. He has authored a number of books in economics, and is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society2. Alongside Esther Duflo, he has conducted research using more experiments – making novel use of randomized controlled trials in economics – in areas such as health, education, and microcredit. Esther Duflo is something of a rarity in her field, being the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (she received her PhD from MIT in 1999), and the second female winner. Eschewing the grand theory model favored by her contemporaries, Duflo has carved out her own academic path, pursuing a rigorous analysis of - in her own words - "the pieces that comprise the whole". Her motivation: a long-held commitment to the alleviation of poverty. She is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at MIT. "Instead of relying on our intuition, or that of others, we set up large-scale, rigorous randomized controlled trials to understand what works, what does not work, and why. We are not alone: this movement has taken hold in economics" She's not wrong. Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs), whose popularization the Nobel winners have helped to spearhead, have changed the face of development economics in two very different ways. The first is practical: they’ve simply become the new norm. As put by the Ro…
disambiguating description: The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 has been awarded to three economists “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”1: Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer.
date posted: 2019-12-04T12:18:45Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T10:16:44Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: Economics
keywords: Economist
keywords: Nobel Prize
keywords: William Pearse
keywords: Esther Duflo
keywords: Sean McClung
keywords: Abhijit Banerjee
keywords: Michael Kremer
type: blog
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: economicdevelopmentgrowth
disciplines: healtheducationwelfareeconomics
disciplines: generaleconomics
disciplines: economicthoughtmethodology
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Economic Development, Innovation and Growth (JEL O)
discipline labels: Health, Education, and Welfare (JEL I)
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)
discipline labels: Economic Thought & Methodology (JEL B)

The soft skills you need to succeed
type: Article
title: The soft skills you need to succeed
description: Download the INOMICS Handbook! Communication At the top of every list of essential soft skills seems to be communication. Effective communication doesn’t just mean being able to talk to another person as though they are a human being (although this is obviously useful on a day-to-day basis) – it also means being able to adapt your communication style to different people based on their seniority, age and relationship to you. It means having the ability to adapt your presentation skills, according to whether you’re talking to five people in a thesis workshop or five hundred at a conference. It means being able to write a pithy research proposal for your PhD thesis, slog out a decent essay introduction that remains concise and yet easy to understand, or compress your ideas into a couple of sentences to efficiently get across exactly what it is you do, want, or need. It also means shutting up and listening to someone else speak in order to learn and grow. This last part includes emotional intelligence, something very important for effective communication. If you can’t empathise with people, it’s impossible to communicate effectively with them. Communication skills will help you in every aspect of your life, from forming new relationships with people (this doesn’t necessarily mean friendship, but rather contacts; an essential part of networking is communication) to listening to what others have to say even when you disagree with their opinions. So how to improve these communication skills? A good way is to surround yourself with people you know are good at communicating – whether that means getting someone who can hold an audience to help you with your next presentation or sitting down with a colleague who seems to know absolutely everyone to help you improve your networking skills. You could also take a course in communication (yes, they exist), or throw yourself in at the deep end by forcing yourself to present and talk to people as often as is humanly possible. Teamwo…
disambiguating description: Everyone knows about the hard skills you need to be able to succeed in economics or in academia in general: excellent writing and proofreading skills, the ability to extract information from what are often dense scientific texts, and being able to evaluate and analyse data effectively, among other things. But they aren’t the only skills you need to have. There are, of course, the dreaded soft skills – a slippery term that can mean anything from being able to clearly communicate your ideas to another human being to more abstract concepts like emotional intelligence. But what are the most important soft skills to have, and how can you develop the ones that need some more work?
date posted: 2019-10-03T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T15:52:16Z
language: en
keywords: skills
keywords: soft skills
keywords: leadership
keywords: job
keywords: communication
type: advice
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
disciplines: business
disciplines: management
disciplines: generaleconomics
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences
discipline labels: Business
discipline labels: Management
discipline labels: General Economics (JEL A)

Game Theory
type: CreativeWork
title: Game Theory
description: In game theory the decision makers (i.e., individuals) are called players and each has a set of possible actions they can take. For example, in chess you have two players and each player has several possible actions or moves to choose from. In a simple decision problem, an individual chooses the best option between several alternatives. The main difference between this and a game is that in a game, the payoff that the player gains from making a decision depends on the opponent's reaction. When a chess player moves a figure, they will try to predict how their opponent will react, and how they can counter that reaction. This series of decisions will influence the game’s outcome and the player’s chances of winning. Of course, game theory isn’t only used to study real games like chess or Settlers of Catan. It’s also used to analyze any type of strategic interaction. For instance, in economics we use game theory to study how firms interact in a particular market. Let us, for example, consider two main competitors in the airline industry - Lufthansa and United. When Lufthansa decides how to price their plane tickets, what kind of conditions to offer to their customers, or how to design new flight routes, they will need to predict how their customers are going to react to these decisions. This of course depends on the reaction of United. If Lufthansa raises ticket prices, United may counter by offering a promotion or simply not lowering prices, and gain more market share from Lufthansa as consumers switch over. The market for passenger planes is not the only market in which a few or several firms compete. In oligopolistic markets, profit-maximizing firms take into account the strategies of other firms when they decide how to price a product, whether to launch a new marketing campaign, how much to invest in R&D, and so forth. Besides competition between firms, game theory can also be used to study many other questions. For example, how do recommendations from other consumer…
disambiguating description: In economics, game theory is an important field of study that focuses on the interaction of several decision makers that act strategically. A game refers to any type of situation in which the payoff or utility that an individual can gain by making a decision depends not only on their decision but also on the decision of others.
date posted: 2019-12-05T09:09:45Z
date modified: 2022-09-30T10:05:10Z
language: en
keywords: Game Theory
keywords: Mirjam Sarah Salish
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences

Consumer Theory
type: CreativeWork
title: Consumer Theory
description: In order to examine people’s utility-maximizing behavior, a few assumptions must be made. First, economists assume that people are rational and seek to maximize their personal utility functions. We also assume that their preferences are consistent and do not change over time. This means that people will behave in a sensible and predictable way. Next, economists often assume that there are diminishing marginal returns. In the consumer theory context, this means that people enjoy something less as they accumulate more of it, which is usually the case. The first pizza you buy will probably bring you a good amount of utility; the fifth, not quite so much. In the case where we’re discussing utility functions, we call this diminishing marginal utility. Fully analyzing utility functions requires the use of mathematical models. Some of the common, core assumptions in consumer theory when deriving equations are: Consumers have perfect information: This assumption states that consumers have complete information about their options, so they can always make the best choice possible for themselves given their budget. Thus people always know how good a new food will taste, how well a new device will work, and how much fun a vacation to a new country will be. Consumers are price-takers. That is, they do not try to negotiate or otherwise change the price or quantity parameters they face. Prices are linear. This means that the price for each unit of a good does not change as more of the good is purchased. No bulk discounts here. Goods are divisible. This simply means that it is possible to purchase a fraction of a good, i.e. 2.5 cars. This assumption mainly serves to simplify the mathematical work for economists. These assumptions can be modified slightly for different scenarios without changing the major takeaways of consumer theory. For instance, the perfect information assumption can be relaxed, and peoples’ maximization problems updated accordingly, but many of the key learnings…
disambiguating description: Also known as consumer choice, this term refers to the study of how and why people spend their money based on their preferences. This involves analyzing how they maximize the utility of their purchases while working within budget constraints.
date posted: 2019-12-05T09:05:10Z
date modified: 2022-10-11T09:42:00Z
employment type: onsite
language: en
keywords: derivatives
keywords: diminishing marginal returns
keywords: diminishing marginal utility
keywords: Lagrangian optimization
keywords: Consumer Theory
keywords: Sean McClung
keywords: Microeconomics
type: terms
disciplines: microeconomics
disciplines: economics
disciplines: socialscience
discipline labels: Microeconomics (JEL D)
discipline labels: Economics
discipline labels: Economics and Social Sciences