Economics Standard

12.1.1 Performance Standard:


Examine the causal relationship between scarcity and the need for choices.


People in society struggle with scarcity and the need for choices. We all want more than we need, and its something that we can not avoid in this world. Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants, in a world of limited resources. I can relate to scarcity a lot, I always want more than I actually need. For example, every time I go to a mall, in my mindset, I always have to buy at least one nice blouse, from my favorite store. Or, for example, I love watching television, especially when my favorite shows come out, and when I know I don’t have the channel to one of my favorite shows, I have to go and buy the seasons to watch it. I soon started to ask myself this question, “ What would my life be if I couldn’t get any of theses things?” Well, it would be horrible of course. Someday these things are not going to be available to me or anyone in particular who live their lives just like mine. People are so use to getting things they want, but they never really stop and think if they actually need it. Scarcity should remind us of the decisions we all should make daily to help us manage our resources to meet our needs not our wants.


Along with scarcity comes “Choice.” Since scarcity is the unlimited wants of a human being, choice comes in as an important concept to what the decisions are to making a change. For example, my endless wants of buying clothes, and purchasing my DVD television series, can be changed by a simple choice. It is my action to take whether or not I want to deliberately continue with buying my wants. Making the right choice can help me make the right decisions of what resources I really need. For example, I, can say something like, “ I want to buy my television show series.” Or I can totally make a decision that I thought about and say , “ I will save my money and buy the series next week.” This just shows how I should handle the way I want to spend my money, and use my resources. All human beings must choose between the things that will satisfy or benefit them, and think about the things that will leave them unsatisfied.