Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Economics for Other courses

Organizational Environment and External Factors

The organizational environment encompasses external elements that influence the organization and over which the organization can gain influence. Key external factors include:

• Legal, Social, and Political Environment: Types of contracts, social resources, and regulatory frameworks.
• Market Conditions: Demand, competition, and economic stability.
• Industry Sector: Specific characteristics and competitive landscape of the occupational field.
• Influence of Trade Unions: Handling complaints regarding abuse and labor relations.
• Cultural Differences: Relevant for multinational operations or interactions with foreign customers.

Burns and Stalker's Environmental Dimensions

Burns and Stalker identified three critical...

The Purchase Decision Process

Phase 1: Emergence of the Need

The consumer identifies a need that can be satisfied by consuming a specific good or service. This desire becomes strong enough to prioritize its satisfaction over other unmet needs.

Phase 2: Information Search

The consumer seeks market information regarding the product or service required. Purchasing goods or services always involves inherent risks, such as:

• Paying excessively high prices.
• Making an incorrect product choice.
• Investing too much time and effort into gathering information.

Note: In some cases, consumers engage in impulse buying, where purchases are made without any prior information search.

Phase 3: Identification and Analysis of Alternatives

The consumer identifies various buying...

Fiscal Policy and Taxation

In performing functions that require goods and services, there is a cost to be funded through the nation's budget, and this is managed by the Executive.

Financing of the Budget

Ability to Pay

If the taxpayer has no income, taxes must not be charged. The tax rests on the amount of your income.

Benefit Principle

There is a relationship between taxes and benefits of the State (E°).

Classifications of Taxes

1. Direct Taxes

Direct tax revenues or profits from a natural or legal person.

2. Indirect Taxes

Taxes levied on facts such as ringers, stamps, customs duties, and VAT.

Tax Progressivity

• Progressive Tax: As the amount of income rises, the tax rises.
• Proportional Tax: The tax is proportional depending on the tax base.
• Regressive

Foundational Economic Concepts

Macroeconomics and Microeconomics

The economy is divided into two main branches:

• Macroeconomics: Focuses on the economy as a whole (e.g., the country).
• Microeconomics: Focuses on individual economic agents (e.g., a company).

Resources, Inputs, and Capital

Resources or inputs are the elements used to meet needs. These include:

• Natural Resources (Land): Elements provided by nature.
• Labor (Human Capital): Human effort used in production.
• Capital: The amount of machinery, furniture, money, and production capacity owned by the company.

Factors of Production and Income

Factors of production are the basic elements used in the production of goods and services.

Income is what is received or paid for the possession or use of these...

The Keynesian Welfare State

Social Security is one of the aspects of what has been called the welfare state. The welfare state is the set of public institutions that provide assistance to citizens to improve their quality of life and reduce social inequalities. Workers are paid directly: a monetary compensation paid by the employer.

Functions and Regulations of the Welfare State

Some authors consider other functions of the welfare state to include the regulation of working conditions and the protection of public welfare. Typical functions are:

• Labor and workplace safety: hygiene and safety in factories and workplaces.
• Environmental regulation: oversight of the environmental impact of industries.
• Quality and consumer protection: ensuring the quality

Critique of Capitalism

The capitalist mode of production is one of the modes of production which Marx defined as a stage in the evolution of economic history, defined by a level of development of the productive forces and a particular form of production relations. The preceding mode of production is the feudal mode, and in predicting the future Marx's logic led to its replacement by a socialist mode of production.

While capitalism is generally defined as an economic system, for historical materialism capitalism is a mode of production. The Marxist definition of the capitalist mode of production focuses on the establishment of relations of production based on the existence of socially dispossessed proletarians of all types, whose relations with...

Financial Law

Financial law regulates public financial activity and constitutes the legal framework for public treasury management.

Public Financial Activity

Public financial activity involves the management of revenue and expenses by the state and other public entities to satisfy collective needs.

Characteristics of Financial Activity

• Economic Activity: Accomplished through the management and movement of public funds.
• Legal Activity: Governed by principles and rules studied within financial law.
• Public Activity: Focused on the subject and object of satisfying collective needs.
• Instrumental Activity: Serves as a tool to satisfy public requirements.

Public Treasury

The public treasury is the set of rules and principles governing public financial discipline....

Financial Ratios and Key Metrics

FM: AC - PC. FM: Net equity (patrimonio neto) + non-current liabilities; current assets (AC).

Ratios

Treasury: achievable total trade receivables + total treasury available / payables short-term (current liabilities). [Range: 1–2]

Liquidity and Current Ratios

Liquidity: AC corrientes / PC corrientes (current assets / current liabilities). [Range: 1–2]

Warranty (Coverage)

Warranty: active / total required. [Range: 1–2]

Availability

Availability: Available / required (liquidity per period). Recoating capacity: debts with balances + liquid assets. [Range: 0.3–0.4]

Financial Autonomy

Autonomía financiera: own resources (r. propios / lesser net) / total callable (non-current liabilities + current). Degree of financial...

State Intervention and Fiscal Policy

Keynesian Economics

Keynesians argue that the state must intervene in the economy, as fiscal policy alone does not always reach full employment.

Monetarism (Classics)

Monetarists believe the economy naturally reaches full employment through wage and price flexibility over the long term. This school of thought emerged at the University of Chicago under the guidance of founder Milton Friedman.

Fiscal Policy

Fiscal policy refers to government decisions regarding revenues and expenditures. It depends on income taxes and the state's obligations to pay individuals and businesses. Public expenditures include transfers, infrastructure projects (bridges, roads), and government contracts.

Types of Fiscal Policy

• Expansionary