单项选择题
Production and the Circular Flow
Economics deals with the production， distribution, and use of goods, including material goods or commodities and nonmaterial goods or services. A good is a free good if there is so much of it that people can have all they want at a zero price. Spring water is an example. (0) G Coffee on the supermarket shelf is an example. Economics deals only with scarce goods, since free goods present no problems of supply or distribution.
The American economy is usually called a private enterprise economy, or a market economy. Government produces some good police and fire protection, public education, streets and highways. (8) We use this term in a broad sense. A farm is a business. So is the office of a doctor, lawyer, or other professional persons. Instead of business we could say producing unit, but the former term is simpler and more familiar.
In order to carry on production, a business needs inputs, also called factors of production. (9) Labour means any kind of physical or mental effort exerted on production. It includes the work of the corporation executive, lawyer, or college teacher as well as that of the farmer, salesclerk, or plumber.
(10) In everyday speech it is often used to mean a sum of money representing the assets of a corporation or an individual. We say that a company has a capital of $200 bacon or that a person is worth $200,000. Such sums of money are important; but when that is what we mean, we should be careful to say financial capital.
In economics, the term capital used alone means physical capital, or instruments or production. (11) So is the building, which houses the machines. So is any building used for production—a department store, an office building, a hotel Raw materials and semi-finished goods in the hands of producers are also capitals.
The factors of production are owned by individuals. (12) Doesn’t the Coca-Cola Company own the plants and machinery it operates Yes, but who owns Coca-Cola The company, and thus all of its assets, belongs to the many thousands of people who own common stock in the company.
A. The most important inputs are labour and capital, which have a special meaning in economics.
B. In the case of enterprises and companies, this may not seem to be true.
C. Of course it is true, but most goods are produced by businesses.
D. Machinery in an automobile assembly plant is called capital.
E. Capital and labour are factors of production, among which labour plays an important role.
F. As far as the term capital is concerned, it is especially confusing.
G. A good is scarce if there is not enough of it for everyone to have all they want at a zero pric