Economic Roles Chapter 3

There are three economic roles each person performs. Consumer Role These are the things that you decide to buy Working Role How productive we are as a worker Citizen Role These are the things that you pay taxes on or vote on to collectively accomplish

Consumer Role Individual buying decision have a great influence on our Market Economy. We buy more than two thirds of all good and services produced. As a consumer you help business make decisions…How? When you buy something you are telling the company that you like what they are selling and I am willing to pay for it. This is know as Demand. Demand- Means the quantity of a product or service that consumers are willing and able to buy at a particular price.

Consumer Role Cont. Demand helps determine supply. How? Supply- The quantity of a product or service that businesses are willing and able to provide and a particular price. Suppliers will usually produce a product as long as it covers the cost to operating the business. Example: Dollar Menu at McD’s Supply and Demand affect Prices. Example: Prices go up for Christmas cards in Nov and Dec but go down in Jan. Why? Example: Wedding supplies Competition keeps prices reasonable. Why?

Worker Role Without our working role we would not be able to partake in consumer role. What is standard of living? The way you live measured by the kinds and quality of goods and services you can afford. Your working role will depend on your standard of living. Why? How can you improve your standard of living? One way is to improve is to produce more as a worker. Education Training. What affects does this cause? Add more workers. What is the affect to add more workers? (Labor worker) Productivity- Refers to the quality of a good that an average worker can produce in an hour Example: ProTrans International

Citizen Role As a citizen, you pay taxes and the community uses these taxes to provide public goods and services. Examples:? Public Goods- are something needed by a community and provided by its government. Collective Decision making- as a citizen we decide collectively how some of our scarce resources will be used. Government can not supply all what the people want it to must make choices as to which service it can afford to provide.