Video Transcript
Which of the following
correctly describes the relationship between human needs and economic
activities? Is it (A) an economic activity
produces a human need? (B) Each human need motivates
an economic activity. Is it option (C) each economic
activity directly satisfies a human need? Or option (D) the eventual goal
of any economic activity is to satisfy a human need.
Remember, a need of an
individual is a feeling of distress that leads the individual to act to diminish
it, while an economic activity refers to the production, distribution, or
consumption of goods or services. All economic activities are
motivated by their ability to either directly or indirectly satisfy human
needs. So, let’s consider option
(A). We’ve stated that economic
activities are driven by their ability to satisfy a human need. This statement is therefore the
wrong way round. Option (A) is false.
What about option (B)? We know that human needs do
motivate economic activities, but this isn’t always true. For instance, an individual may
have the need to go for a walk. That does not necessarily lead
to production, distribution, or consumption of goods or services. This statement is also
false.
Option (C) states that each
economic activity directly satisfies a human need. However, we know that this may
in fact happen directly or indirectly. For example, to satisfy the
needs of a person to read a book, a factory may manufacture paper to be used in
that book. This does not directly satisfy
the needs of the individual, and so this statement is also false.
We might deduce that option (D)
is true then, but let’s check. “The eventual goal of any
economic activity is to satisfy a human need” is indeed a true statement. The needs of individuals are
the driving force behind all economic activities. The correct answer is (D). The eventual goal of any
economic activity is to satisfy a human need.
