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Infographic
The 3 Problems
The three central economic problems - What, How and Whom
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Every economy must allocate its scarce resources by answering: What, How, and For Whom?
Understand that scarcity forces societies to make allocative choices framed by three central questions.
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Introduction to scarcity and choice.
Did you know? Imagine an island where everything is free, but you only have 24 hours a day.
Even with infinite stuff, your time is limited. Economics studies exactly this: how we solve the problem of limited resources facing unlimited wants. Because resources are scarce, choices must be made.
Explanation of What, How, and For Whom to produce.
Every society faces the reality of scarcity.
Because resources are limited but have competing usages, societies must decide exactly how to distribute them. This process is called the allocation of resources, and it creates three fundamental economic problems that every nation must solve.
The three central economic problems - What, How and Whom
Every economy must allocate its scarce resources by answering: What, How, and For Whom?
Fill-in-the-blanks on scarcity and central problems.
Because human needs are essentially unlimited and resources are , every society inevitably faces the problem of . The scarce resources of an economy have alternative usages, meaning every society has to determine how to them properly. When an economy evaluates whether to produce more basic food or luxury goods, it is addressing the fundamental question of is produced. On the other hand, the decision of using more machines instead of labour directly answers the question of these goods are produced. Finally, determining who gets more and who gets less resolves the question of for these goods are produced. Together, these decisions form the central economic problems of any society.