Final answer:
Lena and Jess's arrangement of trading cleaning tasks exemplifies trade-offs and mutual benefit, which are key concepts in economics. Their situation also highlights the role of incentives and implicit contracts in economic interactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The economic concept represented by Lena and Jess's agreement about cleaning responsibilities is the concept of trade-offs and mutual benefit. Lena dislikes cleaning the bathroom, while Jess is willing to do it only if Lena vacuums the living room. Both roommates are negotiating tasks to ensure their personal discomfort with particular chores is minimized, and they each end up with a cleaner living environment, demonstrating the principle that by exchanging services where each has a comparative advantage, both can be better off.
This is also an example of an implicit contract, where an agreement is formed based on the exchange of services, and as a result, it can also illustrate the importance of incentives in economic interactions. Jess is incentivized to clean the bathroom, a task she might not mind, in exchange for not having to do a task she dislikes more or is less efficient at, such as vacuuming. Lena is incentivized to vacuum the living room, something she presumably dislikes less than cleaning the bathroom, to ensure the bathroom is cleaned by Jess.