What are the central problems of an economy?

The problem of scarcity of resources which arises before an individual consumer also arises collectively before an economy. On account of this problem and economy has to choose between the following:

(i) Which goods should be produced and in how much quantity?

(ii) What technique should be adopted for production?

(iii) For whom goods should be produced?

These three problems are known as the central problems or the basic problems of an economy. This is so because all other economic problems cluster around these problems. These problems arise in all economics whether it is a socialist economy like that of North Korea or a capitalist economy like that of America or a mixed economy like that of India. Similarly, they arise in developed and under-deve­loped economics alike.

1. What to produce?

There are two aspects of this problem— firstly, which goods should be produced, and secondly, what should be the quantities of the goods that are to be produced. The first problem relates to the goods which are to be produced. In other words, what goods should be produced? An economy wants many things but all these cannot be produced with the available resources.

There­fore, an economy has to choose what goods should be produced and what goods should not be. In other words, whether consumer goods should be produced or producer goods or whether general goods should be produced or capital goods or whether civil goods should be produced or defense goods. The second problem is what should be the quantities of the goods that are to be produced.

Production of goods depends upon the use of resources. Hence, this problem is the problem of allocation of resources. If we allocate more resources for the production of one commodity, the re­sources for the production of other commodities would be less.

2. How to produce?

The second basic problem is which technique should be used for the produc­tion of given commodities. This problem arises because there are various techniques available for the production of a commodity such as, for the production of wheat, we may use either more of labour and less of capital or less of labour or more of capital. With the help of both these techniques, we can produce equal amount of wheat. Such possibilities exist relating to the production of other commodities also.

Therefore, every economy faces the problem as to how resources should be combined for the production of a given commodity. The goods would be produced employing those methods and tech­niques, whereby the output may be the maximum and cost of production be the minimum.

Broadly speaking, there arc two techniques of production-labour-intensive technique and capital-intensive technique. Labour-intensive technique involves greater use of labour and capital-intensive technique involves greater use of capital. Because of abundance of labour India would prefer labour-intensive technique. Similarly, America will use capital-intensive technique because of abundance of capital.

3. For whom to produce?

The main objective of producing a commodity in a country is its consumption by the people of the country. However, even after employing all the resources of a country, it is not possible to produce all the commodities which are required by the people. Therefore, an economy has to decide as to for whom goods should be produced. This problem is the problem of distribution of produced goods and services. Therefore, what goods should be consumed and by whom depends on how national product is distributed among various people.

All the three central problems arise because resources are scarce. Had resources been unlimited, these problems would not have arisen. For example, in the event of resources being unlimited, we could have produced each and every thing we had wanted, we could have used any technique and we could have produced for each and everybody.

Besides, what, how and for whom there are three more problems which are also regarded as basic problems.

4. The problem of efficient use of resources:

An economy has to face the problem of efficiently using its resources. Production can be increased even by improving the use of resources. Resources will be deemed to be better utilised when by reallocating them in various uses, production of a commodity can be increased without adversely affecting the production of other commodities.

5. The problem of fuller employment of resources:

In many economies, especially in develop­ing economies, there is a tendency towards under-utilisation of resources. Resources lying idle or not being utilised fully is a recurring problem in many economies. This problem is particularly acute in labour-abundant economies like that of India where large scale unemployment exists. In many econo­mies, a vital resource like land too remains under-utilised. Resources being relatively scarce, they should not be allowed to remain idle as it is a waste.

6. The Problem of Growth:

The last problem is of growth. Every economy strives to increase its production for increasing standards of living of its people. Economic growth of a country depends upon the fact as to what extent; it can increase its resources. This problem is not confined to developing economies alone. It is also faced by developed economies which strive for increasing their resources in order to increase the material comforts of their technically advanced societies.