The Importance Of Scarcity In Economics

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Microeconomic individual assignment

Scarcity and choice are important in economics because there would be no economy if there was no scarcity (limitation in resources) and no choice as to how these resources would be used. Scarcity, or limited resources, is one of the most basic economic problems we face. We run into scarcity because while resources are limited, we are a society with unlimited wants. Therefore, we have to choose. We have to make trade-offs. We have to efficiently allocate resources. We have to do those things because resources are limited and cannot meet our own unlimited demands.Without scarcity, the science of economics would not exist. Economics is the study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. If society did not have to make choices about what to produce, distribute, and consume, the study of those actions would be relatively boring. Society would produce, distribute, and consume an infinite amount of everything to satisfy the unlimited wants and needs of humans. Everyone would get everything they wanted, and it would all be free. But we all know that is not the case. The decisions and trade-offs society makes due to scarcity is what economists study.

In practice, economists tend not to talk about early birds and greener grasses. They 've developed their own more technical vocabulary to describe the world of scarcity and choice. For example, when we sacrifice one thing to obtain another, that 's called a trade-off. Only