First consider the five goals in more detail.

Microeconomic Goals

Five Goals

• Efficiency: Efficiency is achieved when society is able to get the greatest amount of satisfaction from available resources. With efficiency, society cannot change the way resources are used in any way that would increase the total amount of satisfaction obtained by society. The pervasive scarcity problem is best addressed when limited resources are used to satisfy as many wants and needs as possible.

  While efficiency is indicated by equality between demand price and supply price for a given market, there are no clear-cut comprehensive indicators for attaining this efficiency goal. While it is possible, in theory, to pinpoint what is needed for efficiency, the complexity of the economy makes the task difficult to accomplish in practice.



• Equity: Equity is achieved when income and wealth are fairly distributed within a society. Almost everyone wants a fair distribution. However, what constitutes a fair and equitable distribution is debatable. Some might contend that equity is achieved when everyone has the same income and wealth. Others contend that equity results when people receive income and wealth based on the value of their production. Still others argue that equity is achieved when each has only the income and wealth that they need.

  Equity means income and wealth are distributed according to a standard of fairness. But what is the fairness standard? It could be equality. Or it could be the productive value of resources. Or it could be need. Standards for equity moves into the realm of normative economics.

Macroeconomic Goals

• Full Employment: Full employment is achieved when all available resources (labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship) are used to produce goods and services. This goal is commonly indicated by the employment of labor resources (measured by the unemployment rate). However, all resources in the economy--labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship--are important to this goal. The economy benefits from full employment because resources produce the goods that satisfy the wants and needs that lessen the scarcity problem. If the resources are not employed, then they are not producing and satisfaction is not achieved.


• Stability: Stability is achieved by avoiding or limiting fluctuations in production, employment, and prices. Stability seeks to avoid the recessionary declines and inflationary expansions of business cycles. This goal is indicated by month-to-month and year-to-year changes in various economic measures, such as the inflation rate, the unemployment rate, and the growth rate of production. If these remain unchanged, then stability is at hand. Maintaining stability is beneficial because it means uncertainty and disruptions in the economy are avoided. It means consumers and businesses can safely pursue long-term consumption and production plans. Policy makers are usually most concerned with price stability and the inflation rate.


• Economic Growth: Economic growth is achieved by increasing the economy's ability to produce goods and services. This goal is best indicated by measuring the growth rate of production. If the economy produces more goods this year than last, then it is growing. Economic growth is also indicated by increases in the quantities of the resources--labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship--used to produce goods. With economic growth, society gets more goods that can be used to satisfy more wants and needs--people are better off; living standards rise; and scarcity is less of a problem.

Tradeoffs

However, the pursuit of one goal often restricts attainment of others. For example, policies that promote efficiency might create unemployment or policies that improve equity might limit economic growth.

Consider a few hypothetical situations, depicted by the hypothetical Republic of Northwest Queoldiolia, in which the pursuit of one goal limits achieving another goal.

• Full Employment and Stability: The Central Bank of Northwest Queoldiolia seeks to promote lower rates of unemployment through expansionary monetary policy. The economy expands, unemployment falls, and full employment is achieved, but inflation emerges from the over stimulated economy.


• Efficiency and Equity: The Congress of Northwest Queoldiolia seeks to address historical ethnic inequities by establishing an affirmative action program. Opportunities for ethnic minorities provided by the program enable more equal distributions of income and wealth, but efficiency is prevented because some of the employed workers are less skilled at their jobs.


• Economic Growth and Full Employment: Seeking to keep pace with economic growth in neighboring Southeast Queoldiolia, the President of Northwest Queoldiolia enacts an intense program of scientific research and development. The program bears ample fruit, creating scores of new technological innovations that lead to high rates of economic growth, but implementation of the innovations disrupts the economy by throwing millions of people who lack the necessary skills or training needed by the new technologies out of work.

Policies and Politics

In a mixed economy, the pursuit of these goals is largely directed by governments. This, of course, brings into play the wonderful world of politics and never-ending debates over which of these five goals is most worth pursuing with economic policies.

As the discussion turns to politics and policies, two viewpoints tend to emerge--liberal and conservative. Generalities are, of course, fraught with exceptions. However, with that caution in mind, each of the two political views have historically placed greater emphasis on the attainment of some goals over others.