Today we will learn how to solve various problems in economics from different industries. The material will be useful both to those who have just begun to study economics (and even to those who are simply interested in it), and to people who already know how to solve problems and do it well. After all, training does not happen much, and repetition is the mother of learning. But before showing how this or that task in economics is solved, we’ll tell you how it all began.
Story
There is a whole science called History of Economics. She studies how economic relations between people have changed over time and how this science has become the way we see it now. If you think about it, it becomes obvious that economics has been surrounding us since ancient times. For example, even in primitive society, there was the so-called "natural exchange" - that is, people exchanged their things for others without the use of money. Gradually, the monetary equivalent appears, the role of which is played by gold. Until now, the reserves of many countries are valued in gold equivalent. At first gold and other precious metals were shaped into ingots, but then coins began to be minted in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Coins for a long time were divided into gold, silver and bronze. In the end, we came to the currency that we see now.
Types of tasks
Now we will analyze the types, and then examples, and the solution of problems in economics, with the answers to which you can find at the end of the article. First, let's figure out what types of tasks are. They are distinguished by industry, each of which has its own formula for calculating. They distinguish between enterprise economics, labor economics, economic statistics, macro and microeconomics. Let's talk a little about all of these industries.
To begin with, we will analyze such an industry as the economy of an organization. You can find tasks with solutions below.
Enterprise economy
This section is closely related to macro and microeconomics. The enterprise’s economy studies its structure, features of the production cycle, the formation of fixed assets and working capital, develops a production strategy and generally organizes the management of the organization. The main goal of this area is to achieve maximum profit at minimum cost, as well as optimization of production activities. The enterprise’s economy also studies the company's activities and its market position, analyzes ways to increase and stabilize profits. This should be remembered when solving problems on this topic.
In fact, there is nothing difficult in understanding how the economy of an organization works. Problems with solutions, by the way, you can find a little lower.
Labor economics
We can say that this area is a subsection of the previous one, but this is not entirely true. Labor economics analyzes the labor market, is engaged in the study of employee interactions and recruitment. This, too, is undoubtedly an important part of science that needs to be studied. Labor economics play a key role in enterprise management. Indeed, without employees there can be no production of goods.
Economic statistics
This section is devoted to the study of statistical data of economic processes. In the theoretical part, statistics are based on economic theory and analyze processes in any field using its laws. It is closely related to economic analysis and socio-demographic statistics.
Macroeconomics
The subject of macroeconomics research are major economic problems and events. It was created to analyze and identify patterns in indicators such as total national income, level of prices and employment. In fact, it combines smaller processes and considers them in general. Therefore, in some subsections, a macroeconomic approach can be applied to solve problems.
Microeconomics
Microeconomic analysis can be considered as a tool that allows you to explain how managerial economic decisions are made at the lowest level. If macroeconomics considers decisions at the highest level, say, at the state level, then microeconomics allows analysis at the level of a specific enterprise.
Economics Formulas
To solve the problems we need some theoretical knowledge and formulas. We can divide them by industry, and start with the economy of the enterprise. Let's start with a profitability indicator. It shows how the profit of the enterprise and the average annual value of fixed assets relate to each other. Mathematically, this can be expressed as follows: R = P / Csg. We get the answer in fractions of a unit, and if we want to get a percentage of profitability, we need to multiply the resulting value by 100%. Also consider such indicators as capital productivity (Fotd), Capital intensity (Femk), and capital ratio (Fvoor). Their calculation is also not difficult: Fotd = N / Ssg, where N is the volume of sales; Femk = 1 / Fotd; Fvoor = Ssg / Chrab, where "Chrab" is the number of workers (average).
In many formulas invariably appears SSG - the average annual cost of working capital. How to calculate it? There is a very simple formula: Csg = Cn + Svv * FM / 12 - Sl * (12-M) / 12. Let us examine what each specific quantity means. “Sp” is the initial value of current assets, “Svv” is the value of the funds introduced, “World Cup” is the number of months of operation of the introduced fixed assets during the year, and “Sl” is the liquidation value. You can also use the simplified formula without taking into account the month of entering fixed assets: Csg = (Cng-Skg) / 2. Here, the CIS is not the Commonwealth of Independent States, but the value of fixed assets at the beginning of the year, and SKG at the end of the year, respectively.
Also, the calculation of the annual amount of depreciation is useful to us. It is calculated by the formula: A = C first * N amort / 100. The depreciation rate can also be calculated using two formulas: N amort = (Pst - Lst): (Ap · Pst), where Pst is the initial cost of fixed assets, Lst is the liquidation value, Ap is the depreciation period. Another formula is calculated using the service life of an item of fixed assets: N amort = (1 / T) * 100%.
We also consider formulas that are useful to us for solving problems in the labor economy. The formula for determining the working-age population at the end of a period (take, for example, a year) looks like this: H end = H beginning + H 1 -Ch 2 - Ch 3 . Here H beginning - the number of workers at the beginning of the year; Ch 1 - the number of people who have entered a working age; Ch 2 - the number of people who died during the period; Ch 3 - the number of people who have left the working age. There is also a formula for the annual output of an employee: per year. = Per hour * t * T * U. rab. , where per hour. - employee output per hour (monetary unit / person-hour); t is the duration of the working day (in hours); T is the number of days in the working year; At v.rab. - the proportion of workers in the total number of employees.
Examples of tasks
Consider the problems of enterprise economics with solutions. So, task number 1: Determine the average annual value of fixed assets using the provided data. Data for solution:
Cost at the beginning of the year: 15,000 thousand rubles.
The cost of the introduced OS: March - 200 thousand rubles.
June - 150 thousand rubles.
August - 250 thousand rubles.
The cost of retired OS: February - 100 thousand rubles.
October - 300 thousand rubles.
Solution: economics formulas for solving problems came in handy here. We calculate the Csg: (C ng- C kg ) / 2. With ng = 15,000 thousand rubles; C to r = 15,000 + 200 + 150 + 250 - 100 - 300 = 15,200 thousand rubles.
Then Ssg = (15000 + 15200) / 2 = 15,100 thousand rubles. However, we did not get a very accurate result, since the input / output of the OS was uneven during the year. Let’s try to calculate the Gcg according to the first formula: Gcg = Cn + Svv * ChM / 12 - Sl * (12-M) / 12 = 15,000 + (200 * 9/12 + 150 * 6/12 + 250 * 4/12) - (100 * 10/12 + 300 * 2/12) = 15 175 thousand rubles.
Let's move on to another task. Below is a problem with a solution for the economy of the enterprise, and it is devoted to the calculation of depreciation.
Task number 2:
The initial cost of some facilities as of January 1 was 160 thousand rubles, and the actual operation time was 3 years.
It is required to calculate the residual value and depreciation rate for the same date, provided that depreciation is charged on a straight-line basis. The service life of fixed assets shall be considered equal to 10 years.
Decision:
Depreciation rate - the amount of depreciation for the entire time (i.e. 3 years). So, we calculate the depreciation in a linear way: A = C first * N amort / 100. We find the depreciation rate: N amort = (1 / T) * 100% = (1/10) * 100% = 10%. Then A = 160 * 10/100 = 16 thousand rubles. Since we consider the depreciation amount for each year to be the same, the wear rate for three years is: I = 3 * 16 = 48 thousand rubles.
Labor Economics: Problems with Solutions
Let's move on to another section. We have already examined the problems of the enterprise economy, the solutions of which you could familiarize yourself with above. And now it's time for work. And the first task with a decision on the economy, which we will analyze, will concern the number of the working population.
Task number 1:
Calculate the able-bodied population at the end of the year, if for the current year there is data:
- the number of working-age population at the beginning of the year - 60 million;
- the number of dead people of working age is 0.25 million;
- the number of young people who have reached working age this year is 2.5 million;
- the number of people who retired in the current year is 1.5 million.
Decision. So, we apply the formula that we described above - H end = H beginning + H 1 -CH 2 - H 3 = 60 + 2.5 - 0.25 - 1.5 = 60.75 million people.
In general, this is the whole problem with a decision on labor economics. Now we will analyze the task with annual output.
Task number 2: Determine the annual output of the employee.
| Indicator | Base period | Reporting period |
| Gross output, thousand den. one | 3800 | 3890 |
| Number of employees | 580 | 582 |
| The proportion of workers in the number of employees | 82,4 | 82.0 |
| The number of thousands of working days | 117 | 114.6 |
| The number of thousands of working hours | 908.6 | 882.4 |
Above, we discussed the formula for solving this problem. Now it's time to apply it: In a year. = Per hour * t * T * U. rab.
We find in order all the quantities. The production of a worker per hour is equal to the ratio of gross output to the number of man-hours worked, i.e. Per hour = 3800 / 908.6 = 4.2. To find out the average time of a working day, we need to divide the number of man-hours worked by the number of man-days. Then t = 908.6 / 117 = 7.8 hours. Now it remains to find the coefficient T, which means the duration of the working year and is calculated as the ratio of the worked thousand person-days to the number of workers. To find out the number of “hard workers”, we need to multiply their specific gravity by the total number of employees. After that, it is not difficult to write the formula: T = 117 * 1000 / (580 * 0.824) = 244.8 days.
Now we just need to substitute all the values ​​in the formula. We receive: In a year. = 4.2 * 7.8 * 244.8 * 0.824 = 6608.2 monetary units / person
What else?
Many will ask themselves: is this all the variety of economic tasks? Is it so boring? Not really. It’s just that in most cases it is precisely these sections of economic science that cause difficulties: the economics of production, the solution of problems for which we examined at the beginning, as well as the economics of labor. There are many other industries, however, there are no complicated formulas as such, and very often one or another mathematical law can even be applied logically. However, it will be useful for everyone to read the problems of economics with a solution. For students, this is especially true, since the ability to see the solution greatly facilitates the understanding of the problem and better conveys its essence to the person.
What else can you read or decide at your leisure to better understand the topic? We recommend solving problems from the collection of N. Revenko on the economics of an enterprise. It would also be nice to read more specialized books on any specific topic.
Conclusion
Economics is a very ancient and important science, and for many centuries it has kept pace with mathematics. Her laws made it possible to predict crises, changes in the situation in the country, and the like. If a person has economic knowledge, he is unlikely to disappear during a crisis or a local financial catastrophe. If you improve your knowledge, they will certainly bring benefits in life and help to increase financial well-being. Of course, we considered only examples of solving problems in economics, and this does not mean that real tasks will look just like that. In life, everything, as a rule, is more complicated and confusing. Therefore, if you want to always be on top, then the task of solving the economy will not help you so much. It is much more important to be smart.