SKILL ACTIVITY – 01

MICRO ECONOMICS
TITLE – A Project on
Transformation of Human Wants
Time- 90 minutes
Aditya Singh Thakur
2020BCMH001
Submitted to
Mr. Sunil Verma
 PURPOSE
 Through this activity, we should be able
to define want.
 Characteristics of human wants
 We would be able to classify wants on
different perspectives.
STEPS PERFORMED IN THIS ACTIVITY
 Classroom discussion.
 Searched information from various
teachers and study material.
 After reading and understanding the
content, I then made a note of what I
understood.
 RESOURCE MATERIAL USED
 Laptop
 Internet
 Study Material
 SKILLS ACQUIRED
 After completing this project, I am able
to know how to write a project.
 I am able to classify what are human
wants.
 I am able to identify how human wants
change.
 Human Wants
A want is something that is desired. It is said
that every person has unlimited wants, but
limited resources (economics is based on the
assumption that only limited resources are
available to us). Thus, people cannot have
everything they want and must look for the most
affordable alternatives.

Wants are often distinguished from needs. A

need is something that is necessary for survival
(such as food and shelter), whereas a want is
simply something that a person would like to
have. Some economists have rejected this
distinction and maintain that all of these are
simply wants, with varying levels of
importance. By this viewpoint, wants and needs
can be understood as examples of the overall
concept of demand
According to Penson—” Wants are defined as
effective desire for particular things, which
expresses itself in the effort
or sacrifice necessary to obtain them.”
Regarding wants eminent economist Erich Roll
has said—” Want is the expression of lack of
satisfaction which leads to action designed to
provide that satisfaction.”

In economics desires are of two types::

(i) Effective desires,
(ii) Ineffective desires.
Effective desires are those in which man must
have sufficient means to spend and there must
be willingness in the man to spend; while
Ineffective wants are those which cannot be
satisfied. For Example—To bring sun and moon
in
the room.
Therefore, only effective desire is said to be
want. For example—suppose, a poor man has
desire to purchase a car
but his desire cannot be called wants because he
has not got means to purchase the car. But
suppose a miser has a desire to pin-chase a car
but this desire cannot be called wants because
the miser has not got the willingness to purchase
it.

Elements of Human Wants:

(i) There must be desire for a commodity.
(ii) For fulfillment of desire there should be
means or ability to purchase.
(iii) There must be willingness to purchase the
article
Relationship of Wants and Economic Activities:
There is an intense relationship between human
wants and economic efforts. When a man feels
the need of anything, then to fulfill if he puts in
economic efforts and tries to earn wealth in
order to satisfy the wants. In this way Wants are
the basis of all economic activities of the
society. If there would not have been wants,
then the present economic shape of the society
would have been different.
Wants not only gives birth to economic
activities but it determines its effect also. If the
number of wants will be less than our economic
efforts and activities will be less. On the other
side if our wants increase our economic effort
and activities increases.
Human Wants are Unlimited:
There is no end the human wants. When one
want is satisfied, another crops up to take its
place. The never-ending cycle of wants goes
on and on. Man’s mind is so made that he is
never completely satisfied. He always
hankers after more and more goods and
services. There is no limit to his wants so
long as he breathes. Human wants keep on
multiplying.

Any Particular want is Satiable:

Although wants in the aggregate au
unlimited, yet it is possible to satisfy a
particular want, provided one has the means.
If, for instance, a man wants a car he can
have it and be satisfied. If he is hungry, he
takes food and the want is satisfied. Thus a
particular want can be satisfied, if one has
money enough for the purpose.
Wants are Complementary:

Very seldom does one commodity by itself

Satisfy a human want. Usually it calls for
something else in audition. It we want to
write a letter, we must buy a pen as well as
ink and paper. The pen alone is not enough
It is a common experience that we want
things in groups. A single article out of a
group cannot satisfy our wants by itself. It
needs other things to complete its use. Thus,
a motor-car needs petrol and mobiles oil
before it starts working; shoes need laces,
and so on. Thus wants are complementary.
Wants are Competitive:
Not only are our wants complementary, they are
also competitive. One commodity competes
with another for our choice. We all have a
limited amount of money at our disposal,
whereas we want so many things at the same
time. We cannot buy them all. We must,
therefore, choose between them by accepting
some and rejecting others. Thus, there is
competition between the various things that we
could buy. Some Wants are Both.
Complementary and Competitive:
Machinery competes with labor. A manufacturer
can, to some extent, substitute one for the other.
But they also go together. Both of them are used
in factories. Thus, human wants not only
compete, they also complement each other.
Classification of Wants:
Wants can be classified in following ways:
(i) Economic and Non-Economic Wants:
The wants which cannot be satisfied by such
goods and services that can be bought are
known as economic wants.
For example, want for food, want for book,
want for dress etc. To satisfy these wants, a
consumer has to spend money.
The wants which cannot be satisfied by making
monetary payment for them, are known as non-
economic want. We want love and affection of
our parents, relatives, neighbors etc. We want
stable government. We also want international
peace and amity. We want universal
brotherhood.
(ii) Individual Wants and Collective Wants:
Personal or individual wants refer to those
wants which are only demanded by a single
person or an individual. For example, Sachin
wants a cricket bat, Baichug Bhutia wants a
football, Leander Paes wants tennis-racket etc.
These are the personal wants. ‘On the other
hand’ all the things are wanted by us
collectively. For example, good government,
roads, hospitals, schools etc. are collective
wants or social wants. Again, we all want
India’s win either
in a football match or in a cricket match.
(iii) Necessity, Comfort and Luxury:
Human wants are varying in nature. Want for
food, clothing, shelter are the basic necessities
of human beings. We want books, pens, pencils,
medicines, fuel and cooking gas etc. Ail these
are basic necessities of human life. On several
occasions, we want to make our life
comfortable. We want washing machine, AC-
machine, pressure cooker, mixer, geyser, motor
cycle, mobile phone etc. for our little comfort.
These wants are classified as comforts.
There are other wants which are meant for
pleasure. Wants for Plasma-TV, AC-car, well-
furnished house, computers to play games,
travel by air etc. All these wants are called
luxuries. However, what are considered as
comforts today
may become necessities in near future.

Wants are Alternative:

There are several ways of satisfying a particular
want. If we feel thirsty, we can have soda,
‘sharbat’ or ‘lassi’ in summer, and tea, coffee or
hot milk in winter. There are different
alternatives open to us. The final choice depends
on their relative prices and the money at our
disposal.

CONCLUSION
 After completing this
project, I am able to understand
what are human wants, how
they vary and their
classifications and importance.