ECONOMICS

Economics is the study of how societies efficiently use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute
them to satisfy the need and wants of their members.

       It is also defined as the proper allocation and use of available resources for the maximum satisfaction of human
wants.

Economics is divided into two branches:

1.    Macroeconomics which deals with the economic behavior of the whole economy or its affricates such as
government, business and the like.

It is concerned about the gross national product, level of production, unemployment rate, etc.

2.    Microeconomics deals with the economic behavior of individual units or specific segments of the whole economy
such as firms, consumers, price of commodities and the like.

DIVISIONS OF ECONOMICS

1.          Production – the process of manufacturing goods needed by the people to satisfy their needs.

2.          Consumption – the proper utilization of economic goods.

3.          Distribution – the marketing of goods and services to different economic outlets for allocation to individual
consumers.

4.          Exchange – the process of transferring goods and services from one person to another in exchange for
something.

5.          Public Finance – the activity of the government regarding taxation, borrowings and expenditures

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

       Factors of producing are economic resources that are necessary to produce economic goods. They are the following:

1.          Land – natural resources

2.          Labor – human resources or manpower

3.          Capital – manmade physical productive capacity such as plants, machine tools and the like.

4.          Entrepreneur – the person who organizes and coordinates all the other factors of production to produce
economic goods.

5.          Foreign Exchange – the foreign currency reserve used for importing goods and services in the process of
production.
 

THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS

       If states that when successive unit of a variable input (like farmers) work with a fixed input (like one hectare of land)
beyond a certain point , the additional product (output) produced by each additional unit of a variable input decreases
(Fajardo,1986)

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

       Supply is the flow of goods and services which the firms are willing or can make available in the market at a given
price structure.

Demand is the relationship between market price and the quantity demanded, expressing how much of the same
commodity or services one consumer or all consumers would buy at a given real price schedule.

Price is the value of a product or service

The Law of Supply and Demand

       It states that when the supply is greater than the demand, the price of goods or services decreases; whereas, if the
demand is greater than the supply, the price increases, and if the supply is equal to the demand, the price remains constant.

MARKET MODELS

       Market is an impersonal set of pressures bringing together supply and demand.

The different market models are the following:

1.    Pure competition – a market situation where there is a considerable number of sellers offering the same products.

2.    Pure monopoly – a market situation where there is only one seller of a particular good or service

3.    Monopolistic competition – a market situation where there is a relatively large number of small sellers offering were
similar but not identical products.

4.    Oligopoly – a market situation where there are few firms offering standardized differentiated goods and services.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

       An economic system is a set of economic institutions that dominates a given economy (Fajardo, 1986). The following
are the major economic systems in the world today

1.          Capitalism. In this economic system, the factors of production and distribution are owned by the private
individuals or corporations.

2.          Socialism. It is the bridge between capitalism and communism. It is a combination of capitalism and
communism. Under this system, the major factors of production distribution and industries are owned and
managed by the state, while the minor industries are owned by the private sector.
 3.          Communism. It is exactly the opposite of capitalism, where all the factors of production and all the industries
are owned and managed by the state. It is also known as command economy, where private property
ownership is not allowed.

ANTHROPOLOGY is derived from the Greek words Anthropos which means man and logos meaning the study of. It is
the study of human difference, cultural and biological against the background of the nature all humans share.
Anthropologist study human social life and culture including the origin of the human race.

       CULTURE is defined by Edward B. Taylor as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society.

KINDS OF CULTURE

1.    non-Material culture (intangible) includes beliefs, moral, laws, customs, traditions, folk ways and mores etc.

2.    Material culture (tangible) includes man’s technologies, etc.

CHARATERISTICS OF CULTURE

1.          Culture is learned – man is not born with culture, but he is born with the capacity to acquire and learn the
culture of his group.

2.          All people have varied culture – every society has its cultural values that are entirely different from the
others.

3.          Culture is a group product – man cannot develop a culture of his own if he is alone.

4.          Culture is transmitted – the learned culture of the past generation is transmitted to posterity through
education.

What we are today is the product of what they were before.

IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

1.    Through the development of culture man can set aside certain laws of nature to conform to his needs.

2.    Through the development of culture man can overcome his physical handicaps.

FOLKWAYS – customary ways of behaving which have become habitual repetitive to an individual or group.

Ex. Caring for the elders and saying po and opo

MORES occurs when folkways become compulsive for the welfare of the society and it has acquired moral significance.

Failure to observe or conform to this will result to ostracism or condemnation.

CULTURE CHANGE may occur either by accident or direction. It is brought about by the passage of time, migration
and other factors.
SUB-CULTURE refers to the attitude of a certain group to deviate from the habitual practices of the majority.

This is apparent in the new styles of dressing, language and other practices of a group of people which are different from
the majority.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM refers to the practices considered immoral or taboo to a certain group of people, yet moral
to other societies.

              Ex. Polygamy, pre-marital sex, etc.

CULTURE SHOCK is the term used to denote the feeling of depression, often expressed as homesickness, cause by
living in a foreign environment.

Faced with an unknown or poorly understood foreign language and confused by different codes of conduct, unfamiliar
food and even unfamiliar physical surrounding, the traveler or new resident may look upon the people and the
unaccustomed behavior with distaste and sometimes with fear.

CULTURAL VALUES refer to the collective ethical, aesthetics and religious values of the community including artistic
inclination, poetry, music, painting, literature and such other practices which the entire society consider as bital elements
of their existence.

Test of Robin Williams to determine which practices are included in one’s culture

1.          Extensiveness – number of percentages of the population practicing the value.

2.          Duration – time element. How long has the value been practiced.

3.       Intensity – the total impact of the value upon the populace. The severity or gravity of punishment or
condemnation for violation.

4.          Prestige of the value carrier- refers to the people practicing such value.

FILIPINO CULTURAL VALUES

       The Filipino people are known for their various cultural values. Whether beneficial or not, these cultural values make
the Filipinos unique and distinct from other peoples of the world.

Some of the important Filipino cultural values are the following:

Non-rationalism is the tendency to perceive thoughts, objects, events and persons as sacred. This includes:

Animism – the belief in supernatural spirits who are presumably interfering with man’s daily affairs.

Fatalism – belief in luck, fortune telling,” Bahala Na” “suwerte” or malas, horoscope etc.

Social Acceptance – the desire to be always accepted by the group

Pakikisama – yielding to the decisions of the majority

Euphenism – stating an unpleasant truth, opinion, or request as pleasantly as possible.

Go-between – the use of a third party to be exact favor or request from another person. This includes hiya and amor
propio

Emotional closeness and security of the family means the mutual dependence among relative. This could also mean
granting special favors or privileges among the immediate or even distant relatives.

Authority refers to the emphasis on the power and importance of authority

figure.

Economic and social improvement is the desire to improve the standard of living of his family and his hometown.

Utang Na loob means sense of gratitude

Personalism emphasizes the importance of the person with whom one has immediate face to face contact and contact and
connection.

This includes pakiusap, lagay, areglo and palakasan

 Indolence – laziness

Ningas kugon means great enthusiasm at the beginning of a task, yet after a certain period of time the enthusiasm is
fading gradually.

Mañana habit refers to procrastination or putting for tomorrow what can be done

today.

Hospitality means cordially entertaining guests and visitors even to the point of sacrificing their own welfare.

Fiesta syndrome refers to the lavish spending during fiestas and other occasions.