Needs and Wants

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Needs and Wants

• What are they?

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Needs and Wants

• One important idea in economics is that of needs
  and wants.
• Needs are goods or services that are required in
  order to live or survive.
• This would include the need for food, clothing,
  shelter, health care.

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Types of Needs

• Physical needs
• Social needs
• Emotional needs
• Safety needs

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Physical Needs

• Are those basic needs that you must have to live
• You cannot survive without food, clothing or
  shelter

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Physical Needs
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Social Needs

• Are those needs met by interactions with friends,
  family, peers, etc.
• We need to know these people are nearby and are
  our safe place to fall if something bad happens

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Social Needs
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Emotional Needs

• Everyone has emotional needs
• Getting your emotional needs met leaves you with
  a feeling of happiness and contentment
• When emotional needs arent met, you are left
  with a feeling of unhappiness and frustration.
• Everyone has different emotional needs or
  feelings.
• Feeling that you are loved is an example of an
  emotional need.

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Emotional Needs
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Safety Needs

• These needs are met when you feel safe and secure
  in your community
• Having the knowledge that adequate fire
  protection, police protection and health care
  near by give one a feeling of safety

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Safety Needs
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Wants

• Wants are goods or services that are not
  necessary but that we desire or wish for.
• For example, one needs clothes, but one may not
  needs designer clothes. One does not need toys,
  entertainment, diamonds, etc. One needs food, but
  does not have to have steak or dessert. One does
  not need glamorous trips, mall shopping, etc..

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Wants
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Distribution

• An important part of the economics is the
  distribution of resources or goods so that
  people's needs are met.
• This is especially true in times of scarcity when
  there are not enough resources, goods or
  services.
• Many times advertisers try to appeal to consumers
  in such a way that the consumers feel they need
  certain goods or services when in fact they only
  want them.