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ECONOMIES OF SCALE: Declining long-run average cost that occurs as a firm increases all inputs and expands its scale of production. This is graphically illustrated by a negatively-sloped long-run average cost curve and typically occurs for relatively small levels of production. Economies of scale are then overwhelmed by diseconomies of scale for relatively large production levels. Together, economies of scale and diseconomies of scale cause the long-run average cost curve to be U-shaped.
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                           PHYSICAL SCIENCE: The scientific study of the physical world, especially nonhuman, nonsociety phenomena, such as atoms, planets, wildlife, and continental drift. Common disciplines that study these physical phenomena are physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Physical science is one of two broad scientific classifications. The other is social science, which is the study human behavior and society. Physical science contains the areas of study most commonly associated with the term science, especially astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology. These are the areas that were first to use the scientific method to explain and understand the workings of the world. Chemists, physicists, biologists, and astronomers developed experiments, data collection techniques, and hypothesis testing procedures designed to develop theoretical explanations of the world.Because these physical sciences were the first to use the scientific method some scientific purists tend to look down on social sciences, including economics, as not meriting the title of "science." The distinction between social and physical sciences, however, is somewhat arbitrary. For example, while psychologists study human behavior and chemists study chemical reactions, a growing body of evidence suggests that human behavior depends on chemical reactions in the brain. As such, are chemists who study the chemistry of the brain doing physical science or social science? Or are psychologists who study behavior related to the chemistry of the brain doing social science or physical science? The conclusion is both and neither. The conclusion is that the real world is somewhat arbitrarily segmented into different areas, including physical science and social science as well as chemistry and psychology. This segmentation enables specialization of scientific effort as scientists become experts in narrowly defined topics. The real world, however, is a continuum of complex, interrelated phenomena. So long as this interrelated continuum is recognized, specialization produces all sorts of efficiency benefits.
Recommended Citation:PHYSICAL SCIENCE, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 3, 2025].
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BLUE PLACIDOLA
[What's This?]
Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time searching for rummage sales hoping to buy either a coffee cup commemorating the moon landing or a how-to book on surfing the Internet. Be on the lookout for pencil sharpeners with an attitude.
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This isn't me! What am I?
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The New York Stock Exchange was established by a group of investors in New York City in 1817 under a buttonwood tree at the end of a little road named Wall Street.
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"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president
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IARA
Increasing Absolute Risk Aversion
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