How People Make Economic Decisions

829 Words4 Pages
How People Make Economic Decisions ECO212 How People Make Economic Decisions People make hundreds of decisions every day; some small, some large. According to Hubbard and O’Brien (2010), economists have three key concerning interactions: people are rational, people respond to economic incentives, and optimal decisions are made at the margin, or when marginal benefit equals marginal cost. What this means is that, first, people will use all the knowledge and facts available to them to make sound decisions in achieving their goals. Aside from this, it is also assumed that people in general will react to certain enticements of the economic variety when making these decisions, for example, buying in bulk over need, to save money. Finally, it is presumed that most decisions do not completely require giving up on the alternative. The consumer or firm can decide to do more of one thing and less of another, and therefore weigh out the marginal benefits versus the marginal costs of his or her decision and meet at where the equate. Whether it is taking the time to read some chapters in a class to move ahead, or work the extra hour from home, a person will do one or the other or some of each depending on how he or she believes it would benefit the most. A good example of this in my world came in preparation for this course. Working full-time, like many others in this program, I tend to find that time management is extremely important and where I make most of my daily decisions. Upon completing my first course at the university, I decided to devote the next few days to work alone. As the week progressed however, I devoted more time to work and ultimately found myself in a predicament when it came to my assignments for school. I made my decisions largely focusing on the marginal benefits of money, timeliness of my paperwork and responsibilities, preparedness for

More about How People Make Economic Decisions

Open Document