2. Factors of production

The reason people cannot satisfy all their wants and needs¹ is the scarcity of productive resources. These resources or factors of production² are called land, labour, capital, and organization or entrepreneurship³. They provide the means for a society to produce and distribute its goods and services.

As an economic term land means the gifts of nature⁴ or natural resources not created by human efforts. They are the things provided by nature that go into the creation of goods and services. Land has a broad meaning. It is not only land itself, but also what lies under the land (like coal and gold), what grows naturally on top of the land (like forests and wild animals), what is around the land in the seas and oceans and under the seas and oceans (like fish and oil). It includes deserts, fertile fields, forests, mineral deposits, rainfall, sunshine and the climate necessary to grow crops.

Because there are only so many natural resources available at any given time, economists tend to think of land as being fixed or in limited supply. There is not enough good farmland to feed all of the earth’s population enough, sandy beaches for everyone to enjoy, or enough minerals to meet people’s expending energy needs indefinitely.

The second factor of production is labour — people with all their efforts and abilities. Unlike land, labour is a resource that may vary in size over time. Historically, factors such as population growth, immigration, famine, war and disease have had a dramatic impact⁵ on both the quantity and quality of labour.

Labour is the human input into the production process. It may be mental or physical. But in many tasks it is necessary to combine mental activity with physical effort. The price paid for the use of labour is called wages⁶. Wages represent income⁷ to workers, who own their labour. Land and labour are often called primary factors of production⁸. It is one whose quantity is determined outside the economy.

The third factor of production is capital — the tools, equipment and factories used in production of goods and services. It is a produced factor of production, a durable input which is itself an output¹ of the economy. For example, we build a textile factory and use it to produce shirts, or assemble a computer and then employ it in educating students.

As noted earlier, such items are also called capital goods². This is to distinguish them from financial capital³, the money used to buy the tools and equipment used in production.

Capital is unique in that, it is the result of production. A bulldozer may be an example of capital goods used in construction. At the same time⁴, it was manufactured in a factory which makes it the result of earlier production.

When the three inputs⁵ — land, labour and capital — are present, production or the process of creating goods and services, can take place. Even the production of the service called education requires the presence of land, labour and capital.

Entrepreneurship, the managerial or organizational skills⁶ needed by most firms to produce goods and services, is the fourth factor of production. The entrepreneur brings together the other three factors of production — land, labour and capital. When they are successful, entrepreneurs earn profits⁷, the return or reward⁸ for the risks, innovative ideas and efforts put into the business. When they are not successful, they suffer losses⁹.

3. Economic systems

The survival of any society depends on its ability to provide food, clothing and shelter for its people. Since these societies are also faced with scarcity decisions concerning What, How and for Whom to produce must be made.

All societies have something else in common. They have an economic system or an organized way of providing for the wants and needs of their people. The way in which these decisions are made will determine the type of economic system they have. There are three major kinds of economic systems: traditional, command and market.