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DIAMOND-WATER PARADOX: The perplexing observation that water, which is more useful than diamonds, has a lower price. If price is related to utility, how can this occur? This paradox was first proposed by classical economists in the 19th century and was subsequently used as a stepping stone for developing the notion of marginal utility and the role it plays in the demand price of a good. The paradox is magically cleared up with an understanding of marginal utility and total utility. People are willing to pay a higher price for goods with greater marginal utility. As such, water which is plentiful has enormous total utility, but a low price because of a low marginal utility. Diamonds, however, have less total utility because they are less plentiful, but a high price because of a high marginal utility.
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AVERAGE TOTAL COST CURVE A curve that graphically represents the relation between average total cost incurred by a firm in the short-run product of a good or service and the quantity produced. The average total cost curve is constructed to capture the relation between average total cost and the level of output, holding other variables, like technology and resource prices, constant. The average total cost curve is one of three average curves. The other two are average variable cost curve and average fixed cost curve. A related curve is the marginal cost curve.
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ORANGE REBELOON [What's This?]
Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time visiting every yard sale in a 30-mile radius hoping to buy either any book written by Isaac Asimov or a how-to book on building remote controlled airplanes. Be on the lookout for mail order catalogs with hidden messages. Your Complete Scope
This isn't me! What am I?
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Parker Brothers, the folks who produce the Monopoly board game, prints more Monopoly money each year than real currency printed by the U.S. government.
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"Nobody can be successful unless he loves his work. " -- David Sarnoff, TV pioneer
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IBS International Bank for Settlements
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