<P align=left>The word economy comes from the Greek word for “one who manages a household.”<br>At first, this origin might seem peculiar. But, in fact, households and<br>economies have much in common.<br>A household faces many decisions. It must decide which members of the<br>household do which tasks and what each member gets in return: Who cooks dinner?<br>Who does the laundry? Who gets the extra dessert at dinner? Who gets to<br>choose what TV show to watch? In short, the household must allocate its scarce resources<br>among its various members, taking into account each member’s abilities,<br>efforts, and desires.<br>Like a household, a society faces many decisions. A society must decide what<br>jobs will be done and who will do them. It needs some people to grow food, other<br>people to make clothing, and still others to design computer software. Once society<br>has allocated people (as well as land, buildings, and machines) to various jobs,</P> <br>

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-6-3 10:58:41编辑过]