Scarcity the limited nature of society‟s resources Economics the study of how society manages its scarce resources Efficiency the property of society getting the most it can from its scarce resources Equity the property of distributing economic prosperity fairly among the members of society Opportunity cost whatever must be given up to obtain some item Marginal changes small incremental adjustments to a plan of action Market economy an economy that allocates resources through the decentralized decisions of many firms and households as they interact in markets for goods and services Market failure a s/tuition in which a market left on its own fails to allocate resources efficiently Externality the impact of one person‟s actions on the well-being of a bystander Market power the ability of a