Economy

- the ways that human, natural and capital resources are organized and used to meet the wants and needs of people.

  • How wealthy is the country?

  • How high is the standard of living in the country?

  • Is wealth evenly distributed among various members of society or is it heavily concentrated in one group?

  • What resources exist there (natural, human, capital resources?)

  • What jobs do people have?

  • How do people make a living?

  • What does a person need in order to improve his standard of living?

  • What are the imports and exports of the country? Is the place self-sufficient or does it enjoy a wide variety of trading partners? Who are they?

  • What is the basic set of “must have skills” one needs to be employable in that place?

  • What structures exist to facilitate exchange of goods, services and capital? ... and who controls and regulates those structures? How smoothly and efficiently do they run?

  • Does a banking and financial system (private stock ownership) exist to fund the growth of enterprises and wealth?

  • How do they conduct their trade (for example: barter or money system? --import and export with people from distant lands?)

  • How are systems of credit (borrowing and lending) set up, regulated and run?

  • Is it easy to borrow? Is it easy to sell one's property? (These are questions about how "liquid" one's assets are and whether capital can "flow" readily and allow rapid change in where wealth is concentrated.)

  • Is the individual usually self-sufficient... or does he/she trade with others?

  • Is this society self-sufficient or does it trade with other societies?

  • How are businesses controlled and run?

  • How can a business get started up? How is it financed?

  • What labor and skills are needed and who provides them?

  • What goods are produced? How are they produced?

  • What services do people sell/exchange?

  • Are there enough workers to do the work... or are there too many... resulting in unemployment?

  • What goods are considered to be 'valuable'?

  • What skills are considered to be 'valuable'?

  • What motivation is there to do work?

  • Do these things exist: profit, advertisements, rich people, poor people, budgets, welfare, laws controlling trade, taxes?

  • Who controls business and trade-- individuals, groups, governments?

Connecting to political structure, does the government regulate business behavior ...or control or fund any businesses? Does the government outlaw private ownership as it did under communism in the Soviet Union?

•Definition of Economics

•Commerce