What is Microeconomics?
Microeconomics is the study of decisions made by people and businesses regarding the
allocation of resources and prices of goods and services. The government decides the regulation
for taxes. Microeconomics focuses on the supply that determines the price level of the economy.
It uses the bottom-up strategy to analyze the economy. In other words, microeconomics tries to
understand human’s choices and allocation of resources. It does not decide what are the changes
taking place in the market, instead, it explains why there are changes happening in the market.
The key role of microeconomics is to examine how a company could maximize its production
and capacity, so that it could lower the prices and compete in its industry. A lot of
microeconomics information can be obtained from the financial statements.
The key factors of microeconomics are as follows:
Demand, supply, and equilibrium
Production theory
Costs of production
Labour economics
Examples: Individual demand, and price of a product.
What is Macroeconomics?
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that depicts a substantial picture. It scrutinizes itself
with the economy at a massive scale, and several issues of an economy are considered. The
issues confronted by an economy and the headway that it makes are measured and apprehended
as a part and parcel of macroeconomics.
Macroeconomics studies the association between various countries regarding how the policies of
one nation have an upshot on the other. It circumscribes within its scope, analyzing the success
and failure of the government strategies.
In macroeconomics, we normally survey the association of the nation’s total manufacture and the
degree of employment with certain features like cost prices, wage rates, rates of interest, profits,
etc., by concentrating on a single imaginary good and what happens to it.
The important concepts covered under macroeconomics are as follows:
1. Capitalist nation
2. Investment expenditure
3. Revenue
Examples: Aggregate demand, and national income.
Top 7 Differences Between Microeconomics And Macroeconomics
Let us look at some of the points of difference between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Microeconomics Macroeconomics
Meaning
Microeconomics is the branch of Macroeconomics is the branch of Economics
Economics that is related to the study of that deals with the study of the behavior and
individual, household and firm’s behavior performance of the economy in total. The
in decision making and allocation of the most important factors studied in
resources. It comprises markets of goods macroeconomics involve gross domestic
and services and deals with economic product (GDP), unemployment, inflation and
issues. growth rate etc.
Area of study
Microeconomics studies the particular Macroeconomics studies the whole economy,
market segment of the economy that covers several market segments
Deals with
Microeconomics deals with various issues Macroeconomics deals with various issues
like demand, supply, factor pricing, product like national income, distribution,
pricing, economic welfare, production, employment, general price level, money,
consumption, and more. and more.
Business Application
It is applied to environmental and external
It is applied to internal issues.
issues.
Scope
It covers several issues like demand,
It covers several issues like distribution,
supply, factor pricing, product pricing,
national income, employment, money, general
economic welfare, production,
price level, and more.
consumption, and more.
Significance
It is useful in regulating the prices of a It perpetuates firmness in the broad price
product alongside the prices of factors level, and solves the major issues of the
of production (labour, land, economy like deflation, inflation, rising
entrepreneur, capital, and more) within prices (reflation), unemployment, and
the economy. poverty as a whole.
Limitations
It has been scrutinized that the
It is based on impractical
misconception of composition’
presuppositions, i.e., in
incorporates, which sometimes fails to
microeconomics, it is presumed that
prove accurate because it is feasible that
there is full employment in the
what is true for aggregate (comprehensive)
community, which is not at all feasible.
may not be true for individuals as well.
Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics: An Overview
Economics is divided into two categories: microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Microeconomics is the study of individuals and business decisions, while macroeconomics looks
at the decisions of countries and governments.
Though these two branches of economics appear different, they are actually interdependent and
complement one another. Many overlapping issues exist between the two fields.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Microeconomics studies individuals and business decisions, while macroeconomics analyzes
the decisions made by countries and governments.
Microeconomics focuses on supply and demand, and other forces that determine price levels,
making it a bottom-up approach.
Macroeconomics takes a top-down approach and looks at the economy as a whole, trying to
determine its course and nature.
Investors can use microeconomics in their investment decisions, while macroeconomics is an
analytical tool mainly used to craft economic and fiscal policy.
Microeconomics
Microeconomics is the study of decisions made by people and businesses regarding the
allocation of resources, and prices at which they trade goods and services. It considers taxes,
regulations and government legislation.
Microeconomics focuses on supply and demand and other forces that determine price levels in
the economy. It takes a bottom-up approach to analyzing the economy. In other words,
microeconomics tries to understand human choices, decisions and the allocation of resources.
Having said that, microeconomics does not try to answer or explain what forces should take
place in a market. Rather, it tries to explain what happens when there are changes in certain
conditions.
For example, microeconomics examines how a company could maximize its production and
capacity so that it could lower prices and better compete. A lot of microeconomic information
can be gleaned from company financial statements.
Microeconomics involves several key principles, including (but not limited to):
Demand, Supply and Equilibrium: Prices are determined by the law of supply and
demand. In a perfectly competitive market, suppliers offer the same price demanded by
consumers. This creates economic equilibrium.
Production Theory: This principle is the study of how goods and services are created or
manufactured.
Costs of Production: According to this theory, the price of goods or services is
determined by the cost of the resources used during production.
Labor Economics: This principle looks at workers and employers, and tries to
understand patterns of wages, employment and income.
The rules in microeconomics flow from a set of compatible laws and theorems, rather than
beginning with empirical study.
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics, on the other hand, studies the behavior of a country and how its policies
impact the economy as a whole. It analyzes entire industries and economies, rather than
individuals or specific companies, which is why it's a top-down approach. It tries to answer
questions such as, "What should the rate of inflation be?" or "What stimulates economic
growth?"
Macroeconomics examines economy-wide phenomena such as gross domestic product (GDP)
and how it is affected by changes in unemployment, national income, rates of growth and price
levels.
Macroeconomics analyzes how an increase or decrease in net exports impacts a nation's capital
account, or how gross domestic product (GDP) is impacted by the unemployment rate.
Macroeconomics focuses on aggregates and econometric correlations, which is why
governments and their agencies rely on macroeconomics to formulate economic and fiscal
policy. Investors who buy interest-rate sensitive securities should keep a close eye on monetary
and fiscal policy. Outside a few meaningful and measurable impacts, macroeconomics doesn't
offer much for specific investments.
John Maynard Keynes is often credited as the founder of macroeconomics, as he initiated the use
of monetary aggregates to study broad phenomena. Some economists dispute his theories, while
many Keynesians disagree on how to interpret his work.
Managerial Economic and relevance in Business Decision
Managerial economics is a stream of management studies that emphasizes primarily solving
business problems and decision-making by applying the theories and principles of
microeconomics and macroeconomics. It is a specialized stream dealing with an
organization’s internal issues by using various economic theories. Economics is an
indispensable part of any business. All the business assumptions, forecasting, and investments
are derived from this single concept. This is managerial economics meaning in a nutshell.
Nature of managerial economics
You need to know about its various characteristics to get more information about managerial
economics. In the mentioned below points let’s read about the nature of this concept:
Art and Science: Management theory requires a lot of critical and logical thinking and
analytical skills to make decisions or solve problems. Many economists also find it a
source of research, saying it includes applying different economic concepts, techniques
and methods to solve business problems.
Micro Economics: In managerial economics, managers typically deal with the
problems relevant to a single entity rather than the economy as a whole. It is therefore
considered an integral part of microeconomics.
Uses Macro Economics: A corporation works in an external world, i.e. it serves the
consumer, which is an important part of the economy.
For this purpose, it is important that managers evaluate the various macroeconomic
factors such as market dynamics, economic changes, government policies, etc., and
their effect on the company.
Multidisciplinary: It uses many tools and principles that belong to different
disciplines, such as accounting, finance, statistics, mathematics, production,
operational research, human resources, marketing, etc.
Prescriptive/Normative Discipline: By introducing corrective steps it aims at
achieving the objective and solves specific issues or problems.
Management Oriented: This serves as an instrument in managers’ hands to deal
effectively with business-related problems and uncertainties. This also allows for
setting priorities, formulating policies, and taking successful decision-making.
Pragmatic: The solution to day-to-day business challenges is realistic and rational.
Both managers take a different view of the principle of managerial economics. Others may
concentrate more on customer service while others may make efficient production a priority.
The concepts of Managerial Economics
Liberal Managerialism
A market is a democratic space where people make their choices and decisions in a liberal
way. The organization and the managers must function according to the demand of the
customers and market trends; otherwise, this can lead to business failures.
Normative managerialism
The managerial economics normative view states that administrative decisions are based on
experiences and practices of real life. They have a systematic method for the study of demand,
forecasting, cost control, product design and promotion, recruitment, etc.
Radical Managership
Managers have to have a creative approach to business concerns, i.e. they have to make
decisions to improve the current situation or circumstance. We concentrate more on the need
and satisfaction of the consumer rather than just the maximization of income.
Managerial economic values
The excellent macroeconomist N. Gregory Mankiw has given ten principles to explain the
significance of business operations in managerial economics
Principles of Managerial Economics
Principles of How People Decide
Let us go through the following principles to understand how decision-making takes place in
real life:
Humans face tradeoffs: To make decisions, people have to make choices on whether
to choose from the different options available.
Price of Opportunity: Each decision involves a cost of opportunity which is the cost
of those options that we let go of while choosing the most appropriate one.
Feel fair about the margin: People typically think about the margin or income they
receive before investing in a specific project or individual with their money or
resources.
People respond to stimulus: Decisions to be made highly depend on incentives
related to a product, service or activity. Negative incentives discourage people, whilst
positive incentives encourage people.
Principles of How People Interact
Communication and market impact business transactions. Let us take a look at the following
related principles to justify the statement:
Trade Could Better Anyone: The theory states that trade is a way for people to share.
Everyone gets an opportunity to offer those good products or services they make. And buy
those products or services that other people are good at manufacturing.
Markets usually represent a good way to organize economic activity
Markets often serve as a means of customer and product interaction. Consumers express their
desires and expectations (demands) while producers determine whether or not to manufacture
necessary products or services.
Governments may often boost the performance of the market
During the time of adverse market conditions, or for the benefit of society, the government
intervenes in business operations. Another such example is when the government agrees on
minimum wages for the benefit of workers.
Principles on How Economy Works
The following theory outlines the economic role of an organization’s functioning:
The standard of living of a country depends on its capacity to generate goods and services
The companies must be productive enough to produce products and services for the
development of a country’s economy. Ultimately it meets the demand of the customer and
enhances GDP to increase the standard of living in the country.
Prices increase when the government’s printing lots of money.
If surplus money is available with citizens, their capacity to spend increases, eventually
leading to a rise in demand. Inflation takes place when the manufacturers are unable to satisfy
market demand.
Society faces a short-term correlation between unemployment and inflation
The government introduces numerous economic policies to reduce unemployment. Such
policies target in the short term, to improve the economy and what kind of practice
contributes to inflation.
Scope of Managerial Economics
Managerial economics is commonly used to deal with various business problems within
organizations. Both micro and macroeconomics have an equal effect on the organization and
its working. The points which follow illustrate its significance:
Micro-economy Applied to operational matters
The various theories or principles of microeconomics used to solve the internal problems of
the organization arising in the course of business operations are as follows:
Demand Theory: Demand Theory emphasizes the behavior of the consumer towards a
product or service. This takes into account the customers’ desires, expectations,
preferences, and conditions to enhance the manufacturing process.
Decisions on Production and Production Theory: This theory is primarily
concerned with the volume of production, process, capital and labor, costs involved,
etc. It aims to optimize production to meet customer demand.
Market Structure Pricing Theory and Analysis: It focuses on assessing a product’s
price taking into account the competition, market dynamics, production costs,
optimizing sales volume, etc.
exam and management of profit: the companies are operating for assets hence they
always aim to maximize profit. It also depends on demand from the market, input
costs, level of competition, etc.
Decisions on capital and investment theory: Capital is the most important business
element. This philosophy takes priority over the proper distribution of the resources of
the company and investments in productive programs or initiatives to boost operational
performance.
Macro-Economics Applied to Business Environment
Any organization is greatly affected by the environment in which it operates. The business
climate can be defined as:
Economic environment: A country’s economic conditions, GDP, government
policies, etc. have an indirect effect on the company and its operations.
Social environment: The society in which the organization, like employment
conditions, trade unions, consumer cooperatives, etc., functions also affects it.
Political environment: a country’s political system, whether authoritarian or
democratic; political stability; and attitude towards the private sector, impact the
growth and development of the organization.
Management economics is an important method for assessing the company’s priorities and
objectives, the organization’s current role, and what the management can do to fill the void
between the two.
As you now know the definition of managerial economics and what is it, we have listed down
the best options you can pursue in this field.
Banking Sector
Government Sector
Research and Development
Teaching
Higher Studies
Professional Economist
Financial Risk Analyst
Data Analyst (Banking)
Financial Planner (Banking)
Financial Controller/Financial Economist
Equity Analyst
Cost Accountant
Economic Researcher
Business Economist
Agricultural Economist
Investment Analyst
Actuary
Banking sector job profiles are financial analysts, consultants, financial advisers, investment
bankers, and being an environmental policymaker, development officer, or part of Research
and Development you can also work for the government. If you want to be a lecturer or
become a senior economics teacher in private schools, apply for the NET / CTET exam in the
field of education. Job for newspapers, and become an economic or editorial journalist.
Business Economist: They deal with various sectors and companies and their main
role is to serve as an intermediary between the corporate and the outside world.
Asset Manager: They deal with different sectors and businesses and their main role is
to act as an intermediary between the corporate and the outside world.
Credit and risk manager: We analyze the company’s financial details and calculate
the associated default risk to help both the lender and the buyer.
Market Analyst: A Market Analyst analyses the market so that their employers can
make a better decision with respect to product launching or rendering services.
Operations Manager: From output to review of statistics to educating new staff, an
Operations Manager manages all day-to-day activities in the company and needs to
make sure that the organization runs at an optimal level.
Teaching: After completing an M.A in Economics with a mark of at least 55 percent
an applicant can either seek a Ph.D. at any college or appear for the National
Eligibility exam of the UGC currently being administered by the NTA.
Equity Analyst: An equity analyst extracts equity information for investment
purposes and explores stock market insights as to where to invest or whether to
proceed or sell on the market.
Economic services of India: You will complete [Link]. And MA. in economics with
marks of at least 55 percent before appearing in the Indian Economic Service Exam.
The age range is from 21-30 years. The test is administered by UPSC.
Public sector Banking Services: Reserve Bank of India also recruits banking-sector
economists through their own various recruitment exams. The age limit is 21-28 years.
Private and foreign banks: A holder of an Economics degree can try for both private
and foreign banks. The Banking job categories are branch managers, clerks, economic
analysts, planning and development officers, etc.
Agencies Worldwide: Experienced and famous economists in a well-known
international organization such as the World Bank and the International Labor
Organisation(ILO) can get employment opportunities.
Work as an advisor: Graduates in Economics can work as an economic consultant
independently. In the case of various scientific research and consulting in the private
sector, companies can ensure optimal job opportunities.
Entrepreneurship: Economists should have a profound understanding of the market.
They will easily understand industry dynamics and competitive business sectors. Then
they will soon be able to achieve exponential growth by creating their own business.
So, this will generate a huge number of work opportunities. It’ll also help to reduce the
country’s unemployment problem.
Managerial economic
Managerial economic is concerned with the applications of economic concepts and economic
analysis to the problem of formulation rational managerial decisions.
Spencer and Siegelman have defined the subject as “the integration of economic theory with
business practice for the purpose of facilitating decision making and forward planning by
management.
Opportunity cost principle is related and applied to scarce resource. When there are alternative
uses of scarce resource, one should know which best alternative is and which is not. We should
know what gain by best alternative is and what loss by left alternative is.
Definitions In the words of Left witch, "Opportunity cost of a particular product is the value of
the foregone alternative products that resources used in its production, could have produced."
Principles of Managerial Economics
Economic principles assist in rational reasoning and defined thinking. They develop logical
ability and strength of a manager. Some important principles of managerial economics are:
1. Marginal and Incremental Principle
This principle states that a decision is said to be rational and sound if given the firm’s
objective of profit maximization, it leads to increase in profit, which is in either of two
scenarios-
If total revenue increases more than total cost.
If total revenue declines less than total cost.
Marginal analysis implies judging the impact of a unit change in one variable on the
other. Marginal generally refers to small changes. Marginal revenue is change in total
revenue per unit change in output sold. Marginal cost refers to change in total costs per
unit change in output produced (While incremental cost refers to change in total costs due
to change in total output). The decision of a firm to change the price would depend upon
the resulting impact/change in marginal revenue and marginal cost. If the marginal
revenue is greater than the marginal cost, then the firm should bring about the change in
price.
Incremental analysis differs from marginal analysis only in that it analysis the change in
the firm's performance for a given managerial decision, whereas marginal analysis often
is generated by a change in outputs or inputs. Incremental analysis is generalization of
marginal concept. It refers to changes in cost and revenue due to a policy change. For
example - adding a new business, buying new inputs, processing products, etc. Change in
output due to change in process, product or investment is considered as incremental
change. Incremental principle states that a decision is profitable if revenue increases more
than costs; if costs reduce more than revenues; if increase in some revenues is more than
decrease in others; and if decrease in some costs is greater than increase in others.
2. Equi-marginal Principle
Marginal Utility is the utility derived from the additional unit of a commodity consumed.
The laws of equi-marginal utility states that a consumer will reach the stage of
equilibrium when the marginal utilities of various commodities he consumes are equal.
According to the modern economists, this law has been formulated in form of law of
proportional marginal utility. It states that the consumer will spend his money-income on
different goods in such a way that the marginal utility of each good is proportional to its
price, i.e.,
MUx / Px = MUy / Py = MUz / Pz
Where, MU represents marginal utility and P is the price of good.
Similarly, a producer who wants to maximize profit (or reach equilibrium) will use the
technique of production which satisfies the following condition:
MRP1 / MC1 = MRP2 / MC2 = MRP3 / MC3
Where, MRP is marginal revenue product of inputs and MC represents marginal cost.
Thus, a manger can make rational decision by allocating/hiring resources in a manner
which equalizes the ratio of marginal returns and marginal costs of various use of
resources in a specific use.
3. Opportunity Cost Principle
By opportunity cost of a decision is meant the sacrifice of alternatives required by that
decision. If there are no sacrifices, there is no cost. According to Opportunity cost
principle, a firm can hire a factor of production if and only if that factor earns a reward in
that occupation/job equal or greater than it’s opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the
minimum price that would be necessary to retain a factor-service in it’s given use. It is
also defined as the cost of sacrificed alternatives. For instance, a person chooses to forgo
his present lucrative job which offers him Rs.50000 per month, and organizes his own
business. The opportunity lost (earning Rs. 50,000) will be the opportunity cost of
running his own business.
4. Time Perspective Principle
According to this principle, a manger/decision maker should give due emphasis, both to
short-term and long-term impact of his decisions, giving apt significance to the different
time periods before reaching any decision. Short-run refers to a time period in which
some factors are fixed while others are variable. The production can be increased by
increasing the quantity of variable factors. While long-run is a time period in which all
factors of production can become variable. Entry and exit of seller firms can take place
easily. From consumers point of view, short-run refers to a period in which they respond
to the changes in price, given the taste and preferences of the consumers, while long-run
is a time period in which the consumers have enough time to respond to price changes by
varying their tastes and preferences.
5. Discounting Principle
According to this principle, if a decision affects costs and revenues in long-run, all those
costs and revenues must be discounted to present values before valid comparison of
alternatives is possible. This is essential because a rupee worth of money at a future date
is not worth a rupee today. Money actually has time value. Discounting can be defined as
a process used to transform future dollars into an equivalent number of present dollars.
For instance, $1 invested today at 10% interest is equivalent to $1.10 next year.
FV = PV*(1+r)t
Where, FV is the future value (time at some future time), PV is the present value (value
at t0, r is the discount (interest) rate, and t is the time between the future value and
present value.