Variable Elements In Economics Essay

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In economics, there are two types of element characteristics, constant and variable. For instance, prices, income, quantity, output etc. Now, some of these elements might not change when other elements changes and this is called constant such as a dozen of cake. A dozen of cake will always stay the same: 12 pieces in a dozen. However, the element that can vary is the price of this dozen. In some places it is 3 KD in other places it 2.5 KD and the price here is described as variable. Below are some examples of that illustrate the difference between constant and variable elements: The number of SQM in a room that is 6m by 6m is ALWAYS 36 SQM Constant element The temperature outside the house – depends on the weather Variable element Now, let us discuss the relationship between two variables, x and y in a way that variable y depends on variable x value. This relationship is translated in this equation: y = a + bx (a and b are constant elements) In the equation above, variable y is dependent on x, a and band hence y is defined as the dependent variable. While x is independent on y, a and b hence x is the independent variable. Why do we need to look at that? And how does it help in the economic context? Well, Economist are interested in knowing the type of relationship between variables for instance, to look at the consumption relationship which illustrates how much money does an individual get and how much money does he/she spend. Another type of relationship is the investment relationship which defines how much money this firm gets as profit and how much money it is willing to spend on new assets and equipment. Let us take a closer look at a real example such as the demand of bread; economists think that the demand of bread ... ... middle of paper ... ...ic models will be used to answer such questions. As started in the 1940s, many national governments started collecting national income and production data which allows economists to construct large scale macroeconometric models that can be used for policy analysis and forecasting. Dutch economist Jan Tinberjan produced the first comprehensive model for the Netherlands. In US, another economist Lawrence Klein built the first global econometric model at the Wharton school at University of Pennsylvania. Both economists won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their work in economic modeling. These large scale macroeconometric models are built on a system of structural simultaneous equations and their specifications are based on economic theories. These models can be simulated on a computer to produce forecasts for policy makers to assist in making policy decisions.

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