Microeconomics studies the economic behavior of individual units (consumers, firms, specific markets) — fundamentally addressing scarcity (resources are limited relative to unlimited human wants), which forces every economic system to answer three central problems: WHAT to produce, HOW to produce, and FOR WHOM to produce.

• ›This scarcity-driven framework applies universally regardless of an economy's specific political/organizational system
• ›Recognizing microeconomics' focus on INDIVIDUAL units (as opposed to macroeconomics' focus on the AGGREGATE economy) is the essential distinguishing framework for this chapter