Structurally, modern economic theory is divided into two sections: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics studies the behavior of individual economic agents: individuals, households, enterprises, owners of primary production resources. It focuses on prices and volumes of production and consumption of specific goods, the state of individual markets, the distribution of resources between alternative goals.

Macroeconomics studies the functioning of the economic system as a whole and its major sectors. The object of its study is the national income and social product, economic growth, the overall level of employment, total consumer spending and savings, the general price level and inflation. Microeconomics is also often referred to as price theory, although it studies only relative prices, i.e. relative prices of individual goods, leaving the problem of the absolute level of prices to macroeconomic analysis, which is sometimes also called the theory of national income and employment. We can say that microeconomics sees only individual trees, not seeing the forest behind them, while macroeconomics does not distinguish individual trees behind the forest. Or, in other words, macroeconomics studies the factors that determine the size of the "social pie", while microeconomics is interested in its composition and distribution.

Of course, there is no Chinese wall or iron curtain between microeconomic and macroeconomic processes. Macroeconomic processes are largely initiated by the decisions of individual economic agents, and these decisions, in turn, are made in a certain macroeconomic environment and significantly depend on it.

The main research method used by economic theory is the modeling of economic phenomena and processes, i.e. the study of objects of knowledge not directly, but indirectly, through the analysis of some auxiliary objects, which are called models. Unlike many natural and especially technical sciences, economics, as a rule, is dominated by ideal modeling, which is based not on the material analogy of the object of study and the model, but on the analogy of the ideal, conceivable. Ideal modeling can be divided into two classes: sign and intuitive.

IN economic theory Typically, sign modeling is used, in which the models are sign formations, as a rule, formulas and graphs. At the same time, sign formations and their elements are specified together with the rules by which one can operate with them. Note that sign models also include words and sentences in some natural (for example, Russian or Chinese) or artificial language.

Economic models must, in principle, meet a number of requirements: meaningfulness and realism of the accepted assumptions and assumptions, predictive ability, the possibility information support and verification, generality and a number of others. There is no consensus among economists about which of these requirements is "more important." Some consider the main requirement that the model must satisfy is its predictive ability, while others see the reality of the assumptions made and the ability to explain the behavior of economic agents through the model as such a criterion. Most associate the requirements for the model with the specific purpose for which it is intended. Predictive power is important for models that aim to predict the effects of certain economic parameters on others (for example, the impact of taxes on sales of a product). Realistic assumptions and explanatory power are important for models whose purpose is to explain the behavior of economic agents.

explanatory power in more have graphic models. The advantage of "pictures" is their compactness, clarity, easy visibility of all relationships between variables. But they also have a disadvantage. Easy-to-read "pictures" are two-dimensional, while three-dimensional ones are no longer so easy to read, and multi-dimensional "pictures" do not exist at all. This limits the explanatory power to some extent. graphic models in economic theory.

Two types of models are used in microeconomics: optimization and equilibrium. When studying the behavior of individual economic agents, optimization models are used. Therefore, the basic working concepts here are of a marginal nature: marginal utility, marginal product, marginal cost, marginal revenue, etc. This was the basis for calling such a methodology economic analysis marginalism, and those who use it, marginalists (from the English margin - limit). Both of the latter terms were introduced by the English economist J. Hobson (1858-1940) in the works "Industrial System" (1909) and "Labor and Wealth" (1914) and were disparaging. It persisted for a long time in Russian literature.

The term "margin" owes its penetration into economic theory to two English economists - the little-known T. Chalmers and the last representative classical school John Stuart Mill.

The second type of models - market equilibrium models - is used in the study of relationships between economic agents. It is usually assumed that the system is in equilibrium if the interacting forces are balanced and there are no internal impulses to disturb the balance. Market Equilibrium Models - special case a wider and more general class of models of economic interaction between market agents. They allow us to explore not only equilibrium, but also non-equilibrium states of the economy. However, disequilibrium analysis is not usually included in standard microeconomics courses.

Equilibrium models play such an important role in microeconomic theory for the following reasons. The fact is that individual market participants, individuals (households) and enterprises, can optimize their position only if they know all the prices for the resources they consume and the benefits they offer. However, an individual entity usually cannot have a definite opinion about how he could use his funds in an arbitrarily given level prices. In practice, he must confine himself to deciding how much of a certain commodity he could buy or sell with a slight change in its price, but on the condition, however, that the prices of all other commodities remain unchanged, for only under such an assumption does the monetary unit have a completely clear meaning.

During periods of high inflation, when the absolute prices of all goods rise rapidly, but rise to varying degrees, subjects market relations lose their sense of meaning monetary unit. It would seem that in this situation, the assumption of the state of equilibrium, which is the basis of microeconomic models, loses its meaning. However, it is not. Equilibrium models remain in this case the only tool that allows the analyst to distinguish in the behavior of market entities what is due to changes in the price level, and what is due to changes in their ratios. And in the same way, equilibrium models between aggregate demand and aggregate supply are the basis of macroeconomic analysis of fluctuations in the level of economic activity, employment, and inflation.

Source - Galperin V. M. et al. Microeconomics, Institute " School of Economics”, St. Petersburg, 2004

The economy is divided into two main areas: macroeconomics and microeconomics.

Macroeconomics studies the economy as a whole or such major components of the economy as government sector, private sector. At the same time, the general structure of the economy and the links between the major components of the economy as a whole are examined. Macroeconomics analyzes aggregate markets (goods, services, labor, securities).

Macroeconomics analyzes such quantities as gross national income (GNI), total output, total employment, total income, total expenditure, general price level, aggregate demand, unemployment, inflation.

Microeconomics associated with the activities of individual economic entities. These include consumers, enterprises (firms), individual industries, i.e. any individual or economic entity that plays a significant role in the functioning of the economy. Microeconomics also explores the interaction of subjects of microeconomics, the formation of individual markets, their development, functioning, and the impact on them of government policy and the external economy.

Microeconomics analyzes such quantities as the revenue or income of an individual enterprise (or firm), the number of employees in a particular enterprise, the demand for a particular product, the price of a particular product.

Thus, macroeconomists are increasingly engaged in microeconomic justifications, and macroeconomics itself is an extension of microeconomic analysis.

In the Fundamentals of Pharmacy Economics section, we will consider only microeconomic problems.

1.3. Subjects of microeconomics: qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

The subjects of microeconomics include enterprises, individual industries, consumers.

Since we are interested in the pharmacy as a subject of microeconomics, it is necessary to determine the parameters that can describe it.

Enterprises, as subjects of microeconomics, are characterized by qualitative and quantitative parameters.

Main quality parameters:

· Nature and content of activity- are determined by the industry in which the enterprise operates (for example: industrial, trade, insurance enterprises, healthcare institutions). Each enterprise specifies the content of its activities. The main activities are fixed in the Charter of the enterprise. Thus, a pharmacy, by the nature of its activities, belongs to healthcare institutions, and by the content of its activities, it is a retail enterprise that is intended to provide pharmaceutical assistance, incl. for the sale of medicines and medical devices.

· Basic form of ownership– in Russia, there are the following types of property, defined by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation:

private- property is created and acquired at the expense of own funds(one person, family);

state property– may be federal (the property belongs to Russian Federation) or the property of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (the property belongs to the republics, territories, regions, autonomous regions). The bearers of the rights of state property are the committees for the management of state property, created accordingly on federal level and the level of subjects of the Russian Federation.

municipal property belongs to the city and rural settlements, local authorities;

other forms- property of public and religious enterprises, charitable and other foundations.

· Organizational legal status enterprises– defined in Civil Code RF (Chapter 4 "Legal entities").

First of all, enterprises are divided into two types depending on which property prevails: public or private.

Type 1 - state and municipal enterprises. Their totality is public sector of the economy.

2nd type - sole proprietorships, partnerships, joint-stock companies, mixed enterprises. They make up private sector of the economy.

Enterprises in the private sector of the economy differ depending on whether one or more persons are the owners of the enterprise, as well as on the responsibility for the activities of the enterprise.

Liability is either limited or unlimited.

Unlimited Liability means that persons who have invested their funds in the enterprise are jointly liable for the obligations of the enterprise with all their property.

Limited liability means that persons who have invested their funds in the enterprise are liable for the obligations of the enterprise only within the limits of their contributions.

According to the organizational and legal status, all enterprises are divided into four types:

q State and municipal (unitary) enterprises;

q sole proprietorships;

q partnerships;

q joint-stock companies.

In accordance with Federal Law No. 161-FZ "On State and Municipal Unitary Enterprises" dated November 14, 2002. unitary enterprise a commercial organization is recognized that is not endowed with the right of ownership of the property assigned to it by the owner. In the form of unitary enterprises, only state and municipal enterprises can be created, which are established by state authorities or municipal (local) authorities. The indivisible (unitary) property of such enterprises is public property (i.e. the property of the state or the relevant municipality) and cannot be distributed among contributions (shares, shares), incl. between employees of the enterprise. Unitary(from lat. unitas - unity) - united, single, constituting a single whole.

Unitary enterprises conduct their economic activities on the basis of economic management or operational management assigned to them. production assets. And their liability is limited to the limits of these funds.

Sole proprietorships (private) enterprises- owned by citizens. Have such advantages, How:

¨ simplicity and cheapness of business organization;

¨ great incentives, a sense of ownership;

¨ there are no problems with the division of profits;

¨ taxation system is simpler.

At the same time, a sole proprietorship is characterized by and shortcomings:

¨ limited resources, financial resources(small amount of starting capital);

¨ Difficulties in obtaining bank loan;

¨ it is difficult to start a big business;

¨ the risk of losing everything.

Partnership or partnership- This is an enterprise that, on the basis of an agreement, unites several co-owners of the business, that is, partners. This type of enterprise has obvious advantages:

· Union financial resources allows you to accumulate significant funds in a relatively short time;

Each partner brings fresh ideas and talent to the business;

Easily organised.

TO shortcomings of this type are:

Difficulties in sharing profits

Incompatibility in some cases of the interests of partners and the possibility of a partner leaving the business, which can lead to the collapse of the company;

Each partner is financially responsible not only for their own actions, but also for the actions of other participants.

A partnership can take several forms:

Full partnership. A partnership is recognized as full (Article 69 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), the participants of which (general partners), in accordance with the concluded agreement, personally participate in the business and bear full responsibility for obligations with all their property. The profit received by the partnership at the end of the financial year is divided among the participants in accordance with contributions to the authorized capital.

Faith partnership or limited partnership(Article 82 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) is a mixed partnership or association consisting of general partners (complimentaries) who bear full joint responsibility for obligations; and comrades who are responsible only within the limits of their contribution - limited partners (from the French Commandite - partnership in faith).

Joint-Stock Company(Article 96 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) is a company in which the share of each participant-owner is expressed in securities- shares, and the right to vote in the management of the enterprise is proportional to the shares it has. Members of a joint-stock company (shareholders) are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the company, to the extent of the value of their shares.

There are two main types of joint-stock companies (Article 97 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) open and closed. In the first case, the shares are distributed by open subscription, so that everyone can buy a share and become its holder. In the second case, the shares are distributed by closed subscription among a certain circle of persons and are not subject to resale.

Joint-stock companies have undoubted advantages before individual ownership and partnership:

§ a method of financing that allows attracting the savings of many people;

§ limited liability of the shareholder, who can lose the maximum amount paid for the shares;

§ shareholders can enter and leave a corporation by buying or selling shares of this corporation (from lat. corporatio - association);

§ unlimited existence, because In the event of the death of a shareholder, his shares are transferred to his heirs.

TO shortcomings joint-stock companies can be classified as:

§ possible abuses (for example, the sale of shares that have no value);

§ double taxation: corporate income is taxed, and then the personal income of the shareholder;

§ inactivity and passivity of a significant part of shareholders, since the vote of one share does not play any role.

· Ways and methods of conducting competition. Competition is a necessary element market economy. However, each country seeks to legally protect the enterprise from unfair competition. In Russia, there is the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”, which obliges the Antimonopoly Committee of the Russian Federation to establish for each product the maximum (but not more than 35% market share for an individual economic entity - an enterprise). Its excess means that the company occupies a dominant (i.e., monopoly) position in a particular product market, and appropriate measures are being taken against it. In addition, any agreements of enterprises with a dominant position in the market are prohibited if they entail a significant restriction of competition. In the retail market competitive environment is developing quite actively, since the retail sale of drugs is carried out by a large number of business entities at relatively low costs for the formation of a new legal entity (the latter refers to MRS). Analysts argue that in regions where competition is developed, the level of provision of the population with medicines is higher, the share of imported drugs is on average 5% lower than in regions where competition is poorly developed, and the average level of trade markups in private pharmacies is 7% lower than in municipal.

Main quantitative parameters:

· Number of employees and revenue from product sales- One of the main trends of the economy developed countries is the growth of small businesses. They are called small businesses. For example, small businesses in the US provide two-fifths of the national gaming product and provide 70% of the jobs in the country. According to official data in the United States, firms with less than 500 employees are classified as small businesses (there are tiny, small, and medium-sized firms).

In accordance with Art. 3 federal law dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation" small and medium-sized businesses are business entities (legal entities and individual entrepreneurs), classified in accordance with the conditions established by the specified Federal Law, to small enterprises (including micro-enterprises) and medium-sized enterprises.

Art. 4 of the Federal Law establishes the main categories of small and medium-sized businesses. These include those entered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities consumer cooperatives And commercial organizations(with the exception of state and municipal unitary enterprises), as well as individuals entered into the USRIP and carrying out entrepreneurial activity without formation of a legal entity, peasant (farm) enterprises that meet the following conditions:

1. For legal entities - the total share of participation of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, foreign legal entities, public and religious organizations, charitable and other funds in the authorized (share) capital ( mutual fund) of these legal entities should not exceed 25%, the share of participation owned by one or more legal entities, which are not subjects of small or medium-sized businesses, should not exceed 25%;

2. The average number of employees for the previous calendar year should not exceed the following limit values ​​for the average number of employees for each category of small and medium-sized businesses:

a) from 101 to 250 people inclusive for medium-sized enterprises;

b) up to 100 people inclusive for small businesses; among small enterprises, micro-enterprises stand out - up to 15 people;

c) marginal values ​​of proceeds from the sale of goods (works, services) for the previous year, excluding value added tax, for the following categories of small and medium-sized businesses:

microenterprises - 60 million rubles;

small enterprises - 400 million rubles;

medium-sized enterprises - 1000 million rubles.

Macro- and microeconomics are important sciences in terms of studying ongoing economic processes. What are they studying? How? These, as well as a number of other questions, will be answered within the framework of the article.

general information

What is macro/microeconomics? The theory on this score has a clear division. Macroeconomics deals with the study of the functioning of the economy of a country or industries in general. She is interested in such general processes as growth, unemployment, state regulation, budget deficit, etc.

Macroeconomics operates with such terms as aggregate supply and demand, GNP, GDP, balance of payments, commodity, labor and money markets. Aggregate indicators are widely used.

Whereas microeconomics deals with the study of agents during the implementation of production, distribution, exchange and consumer activities. That is, the main difference is at what level they work. And now let's take a closer look at what macro- and microeconomics are.

Overall plan

Macroeconomics studies the patterns of functioning and development of the economic sector of a country or several states. For it, unlike microeconomics, individual markets and pricing features under different types of competition are not of interest. When working on a macroeconomic plane, there is a need to abstract from distinctions and reliance on key points. In this regard, interesting points emerge.

Research Features

Emphasis will be placed on macroeconomics, although attention will also be paid to microeconomics to clarify certain points. So:

1. Macroeconomic analysis uses aggregated values. As an example, you can put GDP indicator. Whereas microeconomics is interested in the output of a separate enterprise. Also of interest to macroeconomics is the level of prices in the economy, and not the cost of specific goods. Aggregated aggregates combine both producers and buyers.
2. Macroeconomics during the analysis does not take into account the behavior of individuals, which are households and firms. Whereas for microeconomics they are independent.
3. When working at the state or industry level, there is a constant expansion of the number of subjects that create the economy. Macro- and microeconomics include foreign consumers and producers. True, when using microanalysis tools, external economic factors, as a rule, are not taken into account.

About macroeconomics

This science is not just a mechanical sum of all elements of the economic sector, which has various local, regional, resource, industry markets and many consumers and producers. Macroeconomics is also a set economic ties that connect and define the individual elements of the national economy into a single whole. The indicators of this are:

1. The presence of a division of labor between large areas of production (not only within the entire economy, but also in individual regions).
2. Labor cooperation, which provides production and the relationship between different structural units.
3. The existence of a national market, which is a whole economic space of the state.

Macro- and microeconomics also differ in that for the first the foundation is material wealth. In a broad sense, this term is understood as the totality of all resources that are in the country and that are needed in order to ensure the production of the necessary goods. To do this, there must be a specific economic base that can provide for the existing national interests and needs.

This largely depends on the policies and existing infrastructure. At the same time, it is worth noting the role financial market in macro- and microeconomics. With the right public policy and the honesty of the people who use its services, you can get a significant increase in the economy. And vice versa - if you act connivingly, then the negative effect will be extremely strong.

About microeconomics

She studies at the level of individual enterprises and households. Thus, using the tools of microeconomics, one can study why consumers choose a certain set of goods, buy from a particular enterprise, how prices are formed, and how cost-effective the market methods used are.

Thus, considerable attention is paid to aspects of the organization of production and marketing. At the same time, the needs of households, the specifics of their activity in specific markets, interest rates in banking institutions for certain needs - that is, everything that is the building blocks for the structure of the modern economy.

Conclusion

Here we have considered the concepts of macro- and microeconomics. Of course, their specificity is that just knowing this information is not enough. You also need to know how to apply it in practice. And with this, alas, there are often significant problems. But on the other hand, the information that appears to be macro- and microeconomics serves as a basis for subsequent activities.

The most effective way to get new data is But the number of bruises can be significantly reduced if you use the available information offered by the world wide web and various preparatory courses that are massively organized by various non-state formations.

The subject of study of macroeconomics is global trends:

• How the authorities regulate (should regulate) economic growth
• How countries interact in the world market
• How to reduce unemployment
• How the economy of one country affects other countries
• How to avoid world economic crises? — this, unfortunately, does not work.. 🙁

Microeconomics, unlike macroeconomics, studies how and why specific people and companies make decisions, that is:

• How does a particular firm use the money resources?
• Why should consumers buy certain products?
• How do one firm interact with another and with customers?

Macroeconomics and Microeconomics: Common Features and Differences

Although both the “economy” have quite a few common features. Usually, in response to what is common, they say rather vaguely that "these two sciences are interconnected and influence each other."

The cardinal differences between macro and microeconomics are as follows:

Object of study:

• Micro-private (individuals, households, businesses)
• Macro - global (world market)

Attitude towards prices:

• Micro - prices for individual goods
• Macro - general price level

Working with data and statistics:

• Macro - a lot of attention, a lot of assumptions
• Micro - less assumptions, more facts

Markets studied:

• Micro-specific market
• Macro - all markets combined

In the dry residue:

• "Micro" - for business
• "Macro" - for the country

Macroeconomics and Microeconomics: Examples

Three examples that clearly show how microeconomics differs from macroeconomics

Example 1

Microeconomics studies the question - how the price of real estate in Moscow and the regions of Russia changes.

And macroeconomics will be interested in global trends in the price of real estate (for example, the impact of the price of apartments in the United States on Common Market prices in Europe)

Example 2

Micro - what a startup needs to do to get investments in Silicon Valley.

Macro - general patterns investment activity in the world

Economic theory studies the economy at two levels of analysis: micro and macro. In progress microeconomic analysis specific economic units: a separate industry, a specific firm, economic indicators their activities, household. Households are commonly understood as groups of people who share their property, their income; jointly make decisions. Households sell factors of production and buy final goods and services. Microeconomic analysis is necessary in order to consider the specific components of the economic system. His focus is on prices, volumes of production and consumption of specific goods, the state of specific markets, the distribution of resources between alternative goals, the study of the interests of consumers and firms, the analysis of the factors that determine their behavior (in particular, the usefulness of goods and services, solvency).

Macroeconomic analysis used to study the national economy as a whole and its main components (for example, the public sector, small business), the global economy and

interstate relations. Macroeconomics studies the national economy (or world economy) as a single system. Therefore, its subject is the branches and spheres of the economy, economic relations between them, the development of the national economy. The subject of macroeconomics are also such phenomena and processes as: cycles of economic development and the state budget, employment and unemployment, exchange rate and balance of payments. Macroeconomic analysis operates with indicators such as: gross output

(national product), gross income (national income), general price level, rate of economic growth, total consumer spending and savings, investment dynamics, etc.

Since modern economic theory considers the national economy in two planes (micro and macro), two "secondary" subjects can be distinguished: 1 - the functioning of firms and households; 2 - the national economy as a whole.

The use of micro- and macroeconomic analysis does not mean a sharp division of economic theory into separate sections, when some topics relate to microeconomics, others to macroeconomics. IN last years in important areas of analysis, micro- and macroeconomics are merging. For example, modern unemployment is not only a problem of macroeconomic analysis. To determine its level, it is important to analyze the functioning of a particular commodity market and the labor market.

There is a relationship between macro- and microeconomic processes. Macroeconomic processes are largely initiated by the decisions of individual economic agents, and these decisions, in turn, are made in a certain macroeconomic environment and significantly depend on it.

Microeconomics is also often referred to as price theory, although it only studies relative prices, that is, the relative prices of individual goods, leaving the problem of the absolute level of prices to macroeconomic analysis, which is sometimes also called the theory of national income and employment.

We can say that macroeconomics studies the factors that determine the size of the "social pie", while microeconomics is interested in its composition and distribution. Both sections of economic theory are equally important for economic education. “You are less than half educated if you know only one section, but have no idea about another section of theory,” said Paul Samuelson (one of the most prominent American economists, laureate Nobel Prize 1970).