ECONOMICS
1
BASIC ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Short revision series
What are basic economic problems?
2
 Are also called central/fundamental economic
problems
 The economic problems arise due to two main
reasons.
 Human wants are unlimited
 But means to satisfy wants are limited
 In other words due to scarcity of resources.
What are the basic economic
problems?
3
 What in what quantity to produce?
 How to produce?
 For whom to produce?
What in what quantity to produce?
4
 This is a problem of resource allocation
 Decide what goods to produce
 Determine or estimate the demand of products
to be used in production decisions so that
resources are not wasted or over used
How to produce?
5
 Deciding the means of production
 This is a production problem
 Deciding the method or technique of
production
 Either labour intensive method
 Or capital intensive method
For whom to produce?
6
 This is a distribution problem
 A product can be targeted at poor people
 Or rich people
 Or entire community
Static efficiency
7
 Static advantage occurs when an economy is
able to solve all 3 basic economic problems in
an efficient way at once
Dynamic efficiency
8
 Dynamic advantage occurs when all three basic
problems are optimally solved over a long
period of time.
 If the economy achieves static efficiency over
a period of time then it is dynamically efficient

Basiceconomicproblems

  • 1.
  • 2.
    What are basiceconomic problems? 2  Are also called central/fundamental economic problems  The economic problems arise due to two main reasons.  Human wants are unlimited  But means to satisfy wants are limited  In other words due to scarcity of resources.
  • 3.
    What are thebasic economic problems? 3  What in what quantity to produce?  How to produce?  For whom to produce?
  • 4.
    What in whatquantity to produce? 4  This is a problem of resource allocation  Decide what goods to produce  Determine or estimate the demand of products to be used in production decisions so that resources are not wasted or over used
  • 5.
    How to produce? 5 Deciding the means of production  This is a production problem  Deciding the method or technique of production  Either labour intensive method  Or capital intensive method
  • 6.
    For whom toproduce? 6  This is a distribution problem  A product can be targeted at poor people  Or rich people  Or entire community
  • 7.
    Static efficiency 7  Staticadvantage occurs when an economy is able to solve all 3 basic economic problems in an efficient way at once
  • 8.
    Dynamic efficiency 8  Dynamicadvantage occurs when all three basic problems are optimally solved over a long period of time.  If the economy achieves static efficiency over a period of time then it is dynamically efficient