What is Microeconomics: An Overview of its Concepts

Microeconomics plays a pivotal role in understanding how individuals and firms make choices regarding resource allocation, pricing, and production. It empowers us to comprehend market dynamics, make informed decisions, and devise effective policies for a thriving economy. Let’s understand microeconomics and its theories.

Microeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the behaviour of individuals and businesses and makes decisions based on allocating limited resources. It involves studying what choices people make, what factors affect their choices, and how their decisions influence the good markets by affecting the price, supply, and demand. 

Must read: Difference Between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

Table of Content

• What is Microeconomics?
• Theories of Microeconomics
  • Supply and Demand
  • Opportunity Cost
  • Consumer Demand Theory
  • Diminishing Marginal Utility
  • Price Theory
  • Production Theory
  • Equilibrium
  • Market Structure

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What is Microeconomics?

In microeconomics, we study how we make decisions as we know we don’t have all the time and money to purchase everything; also, we have scarce resources. Microeconomics examines how these decisions and behaviours influence the supply and demand of goods and services and the price consumer pay. These prices influence the quantity of goods businesses supply and the number of goods customers demand. 

Unlike macroeconomics, which emphasizes understanding and modeling collective behavior, microeconomics focuses on the decision-making process of individual entities within an economy. Consumer theory is a branch of microeconomics that analyzes individual household consumption, while producer theory deals with business output. As per the microeconomic theory, consumers look for ways to maximize the utility of goods and services they purchase, whereas producers act to increase profits.

Also read: What are the Central Problems of an Economy?

Theories of Microeconomics

Supply and Demand

Supply and demand are the most basic tools of economic analysis. Demand and supply are two forces that determine the working of a market. These two forces play an essential role in estimating the price of a product or service and the market size. In a market, the concept of demand analyzes buyer behaviour. Demand is a relationship between various possible product prices and the quantities consumers purchase at each price.

Demand theory analyzes buyers’ behaviour, whereas supply theory analyzes the behaviour of sellers. The supply of a product is the quantity a seller is willing to offer at a specific price within a specific timeframe.

Also Read – What is Consumer Equilibrium?

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is an economic term that refers to the value you must give up to choose something else. It is the cost of the following best alternative forgone. Opportunity costs are unavoidable constraints on behaviour because one has to choose what’s best and give up the next-best alternative.

Must read: Demand Forecasting: Methods and Types

Consumer Demand Theory

One of the fundamental concepts in microeconomics is demand theory. It seeks to provide basic explanations regarding how strongly people desire goods and how satisfaction (utility) and income levels affect demand. Companies modify the supply available and the rates charged based on how consumers consider the utility of the products and services.

Consumer preferences, tastes, and choices are factors that drive demand. For a firm to thrive and expand in a cutthroat market, it must consider demand as one of the most crucial decision-making factors covered under microeconomics.

Diminishing Marginal Utility

The law of Diminishing Marginal Utility (DMU) is one of the significant laws in microeconomics. It states that as the quantity consumed of a commodity increase, the utility obtained from each successive unit diminishes, and the consumption of all other commodities remains the same. For example- the utility derived from the first glass cold drink is high. But with successive glasses of cold drinks, the utility would keep diminishing. 

Check out- Understanding Indifference Curve and its Properties

Price Theory

According to the price theory, supply and demand market forces will determine the appropriate price for a given commodity or service. In a free market economy, producers normally charge a high price while consumers want to pay the least amount to buy them. The two sides will eventually come together due to market forces at a price that both consumers and producers accept.

Production Theory

Combining several inputs to create an output for consumption is the process of production. The process of producing something that people can use, whether it be a good or service, adds to their utility.  The concepts by which businesses can decide how much of each commodity they will sell, how much they will produce, how much-fixed capital and labor they will employ, and how much it will utilize are explained by the production theory in economics. It outlines the relationships between the costs of the goods and the production factors. On the one hand, the quantities of these goods and the production factors on the other hand.

Equilibrium

The market theory is driven by two forces, i.e., demand and supply. This is because these two factors are essential in analyzing the price at which a product is sold in the market. The interaction between supply and demand determines the price of the market. 

As per economic theory, the price of a product is evaluated at a point where the supply and demand forces meet. The point at which the forces of demand and supply meet are called the equilibrium point. Conceptually, it is the state of rest. In other words, no profit, no loss situation. 

Check out: What is Consumer Equilibrium?

Market Structure

Market structure is a group of industries with several sellers and buyers, a level and type of competition, a degree of product differentiation, and companies that enter and exit the market over time. The study of market structures helps firms understand the functioning of different firms under different circumstances.

Must read: Different Types of Markets in Economics