University of the South Pacific

Faculty of Business and Economics

School of Economics
Semester 2 2019

EC102: Research Assignment

Group No.

Members Name Student ID

1
Economics is the study of how scarce resources are used by communities to produce valuable items
and goods to satisfy the wants of the people. The study of economics comprises of two main branches
which are: Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. The macroeconomics branch studies the general
economic factors on a large scale such as the economic growth, inflation and national productivity.
However, this essay will discuss two microeconomic issues faced by the people of Fiji, and what the
government has done to minimize or overcome these issues.

To begin with, the microeconomics branch studies the behavior of how individuals, firms and certain
markets make decisions relating to how scarce resources are distributed and used. There are many
examples of microeconomics, for instance, the increase in the price of white sugar in a specific
supermarket affects the economy on a small-scale, hence, the consumers would have to make a
decision whether to purchase the white sugar with a higher cost, or to purchase a substitute good such
as brown sugar.