Name: Lalaine P.

Espina Date: March 2, 2023

Section: 12-Unity Applied Economics

Set out your argument in the following discussion questions and put introduction, develop it with
evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.

1. Why economics is deeply rooted in the concept of scarcity?

As individuals, families, and nations, we confront difficult choices about how to use
limited resources to meet our needs and wants. The field of economics studies how
humans make these choices in the face of scarcity and analyze the choices that
individuals, businesses, governments, and nations make to allocate resources.

There is a limited amount of the resources we value, such as time, money, labor, tools,
land, and raw materials. Simply put, there are never enough resources to satisfy all of our
needs and wants. We must make decisions when faced with a lack of resources. For
instance, every society, at every level, must decide how to distribute its resources.
Families have to decide between getting a new car and going on a fancy trip. Companies
must choose between increasing their budget on product quantity or product quality.
Nations must choose between making improvements in education and improving health
care benefits first. There simply isn't enough money in the budget most of the time to
cover everything. Economics improves our understanding of the choices that people
make on a personal, family, business, and societal level because there are never enough
resources to satisfy all of our needs and wants.

Economics is deeply rooted in the concept of scarcity since the study of economics is
highly relevant to the concept of scarcity and how it affects the use of resources, the
production of goods and services, and many other significant and complex issues that
affect society. The concept of scarcity is one of the central aspects that supports the study
of economics.

2. In what way is applied economics important in tackling economic issues or problems of

the country?

Most of society’s problems can be understood on a materialist lens. The superstructure of

our society – our beliefs, politics, values, philosophy, culture, education, art, etc. – is
conditioned by our economic base. The distribution of wealth and resources, the means of
production, the division of classes, privatization of property, capital, commodities, etc.
are all factors that shapes and maintains the kind of structure our society holds.

In the Philippines, most issues arise by the kind of economy we have. Imagine the kind of
education a poor kid from a family of farmers can only afford when they have no land of
their own and can only earn a salary of PHP 285.19 per day, which is below the average
minimum wage in the country. Compare that to the kind of privileged and high quality
education a kid from a family of landlords can get. Both of these scenarios are a
reflection of the economic disparity between those in the lower classes and the higher
classes. Those people who identify as workers, farmers, fishermen, peasants, indigenous
tribes and lumads, urban poor make up the 98% of the population of the Philippines,
while businessmen, politicians, and the ultra-rich can only be accounted to the 1-2% of
the population. Corruption, injustice, inequality arise from unfair economic practices that
prioritizes the privilege of a numbered few from the higher classes, rather than the
majority of the masses from the lower classes.

The study of applied economics explores the real-world implications of our economic
decisions, and how it affects the people of the country. Similarly, they are a way to
explore better alternatives and pointing the economy to a new direction – one that can
benefit most of the masses, rather than just a few people. We can enjoy a better society
for everyone with a better economy for the people.