文档介绍：Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Microeconomics: the study of how households and firms make decisions and how they interact in markets.
Macroeconomics: the study of economy-wide phenomena, including inflation, unemployment, and economic growth.
The detailed study of the decisions of firms and households, and of prices and production in specific industries, is called Microeconomics.
Macroeconomics (macro is derived from the Greek word meaning “large”) looks at the behavior of the economy as a whole, in particular the behavior of such aggregate measures as the overall rates of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth and the balance of trade.
Adam Smith
无形的手假说by亚当斯密
“he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention”.
“By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it”.
-Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations
In his 1776 book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, economist Adam Smith made the most famous observation in all of economics: Households and firms interacting in markets act as if they are guided by an “invisible hand” that leads them to desirable market es. One of our goals in this book is to understand how this invisible hand works its magic.
As you study economics, you will learn that prices are the instrument with which the invisible hand directs economic activity. In any market, buyers look at the price when determining how much to demand, and sellers look at the price when deciding how much to supply.
As a result of the decisions that buyers and sellers make, market prices reflect both the value of a good to society and the cost to society of making the good. Smiths great insight was that prices adjust to guide these individual buyers and sellers to reach es that, in many cases, maximize the well-being of society as a whole.
John Maynard K