Economics is concerned with the efficient use or management of limited productive resources to achieve maximum satisfaction of human material wants.

Economics is based on two facts:

1. Society's material wants are virtually unlimited or insatiable
Utility is the economist's term for pleasure or satisfaction. Society has insatiable utility

2. Economic resources are scarce

Economic resources are all natural, human, and manufactured resources that go into the production of goods and services:

1. Land and all "gifts of nature" (arable land, forests, mineral deposits)

2. Capital: all manufactured aids to production (tools, machinery)

3. Labor: all physical and mental talents of men and women

4. Entrepreneurial Ability: entrepreneurs have initiative, make basic business-policy decisions, be innovative, and take risks

Because of this combination of insatiable desires and limited resources, economics seeks to attain the greatest fulfillment. This implies that economics seeks to maximize efficiency.

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