human wants

In this topic, we are going to look at what human wants are and the satisfaction of human wants.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Explain the meaning and characteristics of human wants
• Classify human wants
• Explain the meaning of goods and services
• Discuss the characteristics of goods and services
• Explain the meaning and characteristics of economic resources
• Relate the concept of scarcity, choice and opportunity cost to real-life situations

Examples of human wants are; food, clothing, shelter, medical care, clothing and education.

GOODS AND SERVICES

Human wants are satisfied by goods and services. Goods refer to the physical commodities that can be seen or touched. They include food and clothing.

Services refer to the intangible activities that cannot be seen but satisfies human wants. They include banking and teaching.

HUMAN WANTS

Human wants are requirements, needs and desires that people have. Human beings have many wants. These desires include food, clothing, shelter, education, entertainment and medical care.

TYPES OF HUMAN WANTS

Basic wants. This refers to necessities that are absolutely vital for the survival of humans. Without them, human beings will die. These needs include food, clothing and shelter. These wants are also known as primary wants.

Secondary wants. These wants are not necessary for us, but their fulfillment makes our life more comfortable. They include a car, a television and a pet.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOODS

• They are tangible
• They can be stored
• They can be separated from the producer
• They can be standardized

CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES

• They are intangible
• They cannot be standardized
• They cannot be stored
• They are inseparable from the producer

SCARCITY, CHOICE AND OPPORTUNITY COST

Human wants are unlimited. However, resources required to satisfy them are limited (scarce). Therefore, man has to make a choice of the want that he/she wishes to satisfy first with the available resources. The scale of preferences refers to the order in which wants are going to be satisfied.

In order to satisfy wants, some wants have to be foregone or sacrificed. The cost of the alternative wants or the benefits foregone is called opportunity cost.

For example, John had 25 dollars with which to buy either a pair of shoes or trousers. If he buys a pair of shoes, the trousers will be foregone. The cost of the trousers is the opportunity cost.

The following are the major characteristics of human wants;

• They are unlimited. This means that they are too many to be satisfied with limited resources.
• They are competitive. Due to limited resources, the satisfaction of one competes with the satisfaction of the other wants. Therefore, the most important wants are satisfied first.
• They are complimentary. The satisfaction of one want gives rise to another want. For instance, when a student gets a fountain pen, the need for ink comes up.
• They are recurrent (repetitive). After human wants have been satisfied once, the wants recur thereby creating the need to satisfy them again. For instance, after consuming breakfast, one needs to take lunch, supper and breakfast again.
• They are habit-forming. By satisfying certain wants, you may become a habitual user. For example, frequent use of tea makes one a habitual tea taker.
• They vary in urgency and intensity. Some wants are more urgent and intense than others, especially at certain times.
• They are universal. This simply means that they are required by everyone in the world.

ECONOMIC RESOURCES

These are things required to produce goods and services in order to satisfy human wants. They include land, laborers, tools and machinery. Characteristics of economic resources include;

• Scarcity. Economic resources are limited in supply in relation to the total wants which they are required to satisfy.
• They have alternative uses. A choice has to be made as to which use they will be put to.
• They have utility. This is the ability of satisfying human wants.
• They are transferrable. They can be transferred from one person to another.