1.2 Absolute and relative resource constraints and the problem of choice

All economic resources have one property: they are available in limited quantities. This limitation is relative and it means that resources are usually less than is required to meet all the needs of a given level of economic development. Due to the limited resources the volume of production is limited. Social production is not able to produce the entire volume of goods and services that society would like to receive. Limited resources and relative have a certain level of scientific - technical progress (NTP) defines the boundaries of the use of a resource (for example, the depth of oil refining). As our needs are unlimited, and our resources are limited, we are not able to meet all our needs. We have to decide what goods and services should be performed, and which conditions should be abandoned. The problem of limited resources: the production of cars in the world is increasing every year, but we want to buy them more and more. To increase production vehicles we require more metal, rubber, motors, etc. and resources are limited. All kinds of economic resources are at the disposal of mankind as a whole, individual countries, businesses, families, and limited in quantity and quality. They are obviously not enough to satisfy the whole range of human needs. This is the principle of limited, scarcity of resources. The problem of choice is complicated by the fact that, preferring one species benefits at the same time we reject the consumption of others. For example, people save money in order to buy a VCR at the last moment decided that on the eve of the winter is better to buy a fur coat. After purchasing it, he refuses to implement his first desire. The question of how to allocate the limited resources is available, it is necessary not only to the individual, but also to the enterprise, the government of any country. Economic theory states that the limited resources of determining are the alternative use. The Company strives to use their scarce resources efficiently, it wishes to obtain the maximum amount of useful goods and services produced in a limited number of resources. To achieve this, it should be ensured full employment and full production.

2. Benefits and their limitations

Good - it is a means to meet the needs. Some of them are almost unlimited scale (e.g., air), the other - to a limited extent. Some of them are called economic benefits. They consist of things and services. A. Marshall defines the good as "desirable thing, meet human needs." Zh.B.Sey defines good "as the means that we have to meet our needs." A.Shtorh emphasizes that "the verdict pronounced by our judgment about the usefulness of objects, making them the benefits." Property of any object, which caters to the specific need of the person, does not make it good. This fact drew particular attention to one of the most prominent representatives of the Austrian school K.Menger. So, ginseng is able to lift the vitality of man. But while the people were not placed in a causal relationship need for recovery of the body with the healing power of ginseng, this plant was not of the nature of good. In other words, the ability of the subject to satisfy the need for any person can be recognized. According to Marx's theory, the cost (value) of economic benefits is determined by the cost of socially necessary labor, ie, Labour is committed at average socio-normal conditions of production and the average intensity of labor.

According to neoclassical views, the value of benefits depends on their rarity, primarily on the needs of the intensity and amount of benefits that can meet this need. It is assumed that every need met several benefits, and any economic benefit is used to meet different needs. To obtain the missing consumer goods are tended to indirect economic benefits - resources.