Each person has certain needs and desires, both material and spiritual. They help to maintain the vital activity of the individual and develop him as a person. In order to satisfy most of the needs, a person begins to work. He is involved in industrial, economic activities.

Goods (definition)

A variety of goods serve as a means to satisfy the many needs of man. This is all that can bring him joy, prosperity and prosperity.

Since people have a lot of needs, the list of benefits is wide. These can be different items that a person uses: clothes, shoes, furniture, Appliances, products and so on. Any state of nature that can give pleasure: fresh air, beautiful sunset, blue sky. Information can act as a good: interesting news, pleasant music, a funny story.

All of them are classified and systematized according to various criteria. Economic and non-economic goods is the main distinction. The opposition is based on the principle of rarity. These two species, in turn, are subdivided into several smaller ones.

Gift Goods

These are species that freely exist in nature and do not require human effort. These include water, air, sunlight and others. Anyone can enjoy these benefits.

economic good

This is what is limited in relation to our needs. Therefore, it cannot be obtained just like that, sometimes it is necessary to give up something else.

It also happens that under certain conditions, free goods turn into limited ones. For example, water in the desert. There it ceases to be free and freely accessible to all.

economic benefits(needs) are, for the most part, what is invented by man and does not occur in nature. They need to be created, produced, which means spending time, making efforts, that is, using certain resources. Therefore, to justify the costs, economic goods are bought and sold. Often they are simply called services and goods, for which the concept of price is introduced. It restricts consumption in conditions of scarcity. The cost includes not only costs, but also value, the desire to possess this good by other people.

The scarcity of economic goods is what forces them to be engaged in their distribution, since there is not enough for everyone. The needs of people are growing very fast, and the production of goods does not keep pace with this process. People want to have more and more blessings. There is a problem of choice. Each family, individual, enterprise, firm and society as a whole solves it in its own way.

Main classification

An economic good is goods and services as a result of human activity. Let's consider each type.

A product is a product. You can see it, touch it, touch it. These are various items created with the help of a person and having a certain value.

An economic good is a good, the demand for which, as a person's income rises, can change. For example, at first they bought pasta and cutlets from semi-finished products, then they switched to red caviar and fresh meat. An inferior economic good is a good for which there is a better substitute.

A service is an action performed by one person or group of persons for a fee to meet the needs of another. It has a beneficial effect. Unlike a commodity, it is not something tangible. The service cannot be stored, stored in order to be used again. It is consumed immediately, at the time of production. For example, cargo delivery services or medical examinations.

Complementary goods

They have interesting properties, which will now be discussed. Complementary goods or complementary economic goods are goods that can satisfy human needs only in aggregate, and not separately from each other. For example, a pair of socks, a camera and film, a blanket and a pillow, a computer monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. They are complementary.

Production of economic goods

This is a process in which a person performs certain actions aimed at creating something and satisfying needs. In this case, productive forces (minerals, machine tools, materials, machines, people) and production relations are used. At the heart of it all is work. And man as the main productive force. Those resources that are involved in the creation of services and goods are called factors of production. The main ones are land, capital, entrepreneurial activity and labor.

Production is divided into two large areas: material and spiritual. The first includes goods and services of a material nature (furniture, clothing, fabrics, machine tools, transport, mail).

To the second - any intellectual activity (inventions, discoveries, paintings, books). Services include culture, education, and so on.

As we already found out at the beginning of the article, the economic good is always a certain limitation. IN this case it concerns the capacity and resources needed for production. In order to somehow overcome this problem, the economy has to solve several problems at once. What goods and services to rely on, what to produce, in what quantity, for whom?

In the economy, many processes are cyclical. They replace each other, repeat with a certain frequency. Any product goes through the stages of actual production, then comes the distribution, exchange and final consumption. After that, it becomes necessary to replace or recreate the product. This is how the reproduction of economic goods arises. This is a whole cycle, a process in which the product consistently goes through all the stages, and after consumption it is created again.

There are several types of reproduction:

Simple (the amount of product produced and consumed does not change);

Narrowed (decreases);

Expanded (increases).

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

VOLZHSK INSTITUTE OF CONSTRUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY

(BRANCH) OF STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL

EDUCATION

"VOLGOGRAD STATE

ARCHITECTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION UNIVERSITY»

Department of Economics

COURSE WORK

by discipline

Economic theory

Economic benefits and their classification

Volzhsky 2009

Introduction

2. Classification of economic goods

2.1. Types of economic benefits

2.2. limited goods

3. Main directions for improving the use of benefits in a transitional economy

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

From the first to last days a person exists in the world of economic interests and relations, competition between sellers and buyers, income and expenses. Every day is associated with his obligatory participation in economic processes that take place in the country, city, firm, markets. Therefore, economic life draws a person into its processes, which are the problems of citizens of all countries and peoples.

The role of economic benefits is currently great. After all, every day we consume goods and services, use the gifts of nature that we need for life. At the same time, one of the most pressing issues remains the limited resources and benefits in modern world. It is known that the reserves of many natural resources are already in short supply, and the fact that some have been preserved in fairly large quantities does not mean their perpetuity. Satisfying the needs of society directly depends on the creation of goods, and goods, in turn, require an increasing amount of resources for their production. It is clear that with a constant increase in the population of the earth, the benefits and resources will be limited, they will not be enough to meet all needs. At present, it can already be seen that a huge amount of resources is spent on the production of goods.

It is necessary to limit the use of resources, because in the future the problem of their scarcity may turn out to be insoluble and lead to fatal consequences.

The subject of the work is the classification and limitation of goods, and the object is resources and goods. The purpose of the course work is to study the concept of economic benefits, as well as to consider the main classifications of benefits. To achieve the stated goal of the study, the following tasks are formulated, which consist in compiling a classification of benefits, in giving examples, considering the problem of limited resources and benefits from different angles, and in identifying the main directions for improving the use of benefits in a transitional economy.

The basis of economic behavior is the desire of a person to satisfy his economic needs (to receive certain benefits) through economic activity. The needs of people are varied. A person, having little, always strives for more, sets goals, climbing the steps of self-development. No less diverse are the means of satisfying them. In economic theory, any such means is called a good.

Different authors define it differently. The most common is the opinion that defines the good as any positive meaning, object, phenomenon, product of labor that satisfies a certain human need and meets the interests, goals, aspirations of people. There are other definitions of the good in the economic literature. A. Marshall, for example, understood the good as “all things that satisfy human needs". In this definition, goods are limited only to things, objects. Sometimes benefits are considered as embodied utility, which can be not only products of labor, but also the fruits of nature. So A. Storch emphasizes that "the verdict pronounced by our judgment about the usefulness of objects makes them good." The property of any object, which allows you to satisfy a certain need of a person, does not yet make it good. To this fact Special attention draws one of the most prominent representatives of the Austrian school K. Menger. So, the ginseng root is able to raise the vitality of a person. But until people put the need for healing the body with the healing power of ginseng into a causal relationship, this plant did not have the character of good. In other words, the ability of an object to satisfy any need must be realized by a person. /5/

Economic benefits are tangible and intangible objects, more precisely, the properties of these objects that can satisfy economic needs. At the dawn of mankind, people satisfied their economic needs at the expense of ready-made goods of nature. In the future, the vast majority of needs began to be satisfied through the production of goods. In a market economy, where economic goods are bought and sold, they are called goods and services (often simply goods, products, products). Mankind is arranged in such a way that its economic needs usually exceed the possibilities for the production of goods. They even talk about the law (principle) of the rise of needs, which means that needs grow faster than the production of goods. This is largely because as we meet some needs, we immediately have others. /6/

2. Classification of economic goods

Benefits are assumed to have the following characteristics:

o by physical characteristics, types of goods (for example, paper of different quality);

o when they become available (watching a movie today is not the same as watching the same movie tomorrow);

o their locations (peaches sold in Tashkent and the same peaches sold in Novosibirsk are treated as different goods);

o states of nature (an umbrella tomorrow if it rains tomorrow is different from an umbrella tomorrow if it is sunny), etc. /15/

2.1 Goods

In the economic literature there is a complex system of classification of goods. Depending on the criteria underlying it, the benefits are divided into different groups.

Material and non-material. Material goods are divided into two having different functional purpose. The first kind of useful things are consumer goods necessary for the life of people (natural gifts of nature - earth, water, air; food, clothing, housing). The second kind is the means of production used to make consumer goods. Sometimes material goods also include relations for the appropriation of material goods (patents, copyrights, mortgages). /3/

Intangible benefits are benefits that affect the development of human abilities. Such benefits are created in the non-productive sphere, in health care, education, art, cinema, theater, museums, etc. Intangible goods are divided into two groups: internal and external goods. Internal benefits are given to man by nature, which he develops of his own free will (ear of music - playing music, voice - singing). External goods are what gives external world to meet needs (reputation, business connections, patronage, etc.) /10/

Economic and non-economic. This distinction is related to the concept of rarity. The non-economic benefit is available in unlimited quantities. Non-economic (free) benefits are provided by nature without human effort (water, air, etc.). These benefits exist in nature “freely”, in an amount sufficient to fully and permanently satisfy human needs. An economic good (this term belongs to the subjectivist school of economic science; the representative is the famous Italian economist A. Pesenti) is a rare good. These benefits are the object or result of economic activity, i.e. they can be obtained in a limited amount compared to the needs met.

Thus, it is the ratio between the need (or in the terminology of K. Menger, a prominent representative of the Austrian school, - the need), and the amount of goods available for disposal that makes them economic or non-economic. So if a person lives in the taiga, tree trunks for building a dwelling are not economic benefits for you. After all, their number is a huge number of times greater than your need for this building material. And drinking water, if you live on the shores of the purest lake, is not an economic good. It will become such for you only in the desert, where a person's need for drinking is higher than the amount of water available to satisfy this need. /5/

The transformation of the concept of "good" and "economic good" is associated with value. If just good means the presence of utility, then value reflects a combination of two characteristics - utility and rarity. The usefulness of any good is manifested only in the process of its consumption or use. An economic good can be produced and used: a) in its own way intended purpose- to meet the needs (in natural economy); b) as a commodity that is produced not for own consumption, but for sale; c) as a source of income (for example, the owner of capital acquires the remaining factors of production and produces products, the sale of which brings income). Economic benefits, being products of economic activity, are characterized by a cyclic existence. It has two aspects: a) in accordance with the phases economic cycles the volumes of production of economic goods, their exchange, distribution and consumption increase or decrease; b) economic benefits that are tangible asset, have their own period of existence, called life cycle. /4/

specific benefits. Specific forms of goods are goods and services. A commodity is a specific economic good intended for sale and purchase on the market. A commodity as such has two properties: the ability to satisfy any human need and the suitability for exchange. Goods are independent, the demand for which, as well as the prices for them, are in no way connected with each other (bananas and fish, knitwear and watches). A normal good is a good for which the quantity demanded increases with an increase in the income of the buyer at each price. An inferior good (or inferior good) is a good for which the quantity demanded decreases with an increase in income. Inferior goods are goods for which substitute goods of greater quality or greater convenience are available. For example, as incomes rise, families move from lower goods (such as potatoes and bread) to purchasing and consuming more expensive foods (such as fresh meat and red caviar). Services are purposeful human activities, the result of which is a beneficial effect that satisfies any human needs. The specificity of the service lies in the fact that it does not have a material form, but it is a useful effect of activity, living labor, the service cannot be accumulated, it can be consumed only at the time of production. For example, a transport service consists in the delivery of people and goods to a given place, a doctor's service consists in curing a patient. /3, 8/

Long-term and short-term (short-term) benefits. This division depends on the period of use of the good. There are benefits that serve us for a long time, and for our needs we can use them more than once. For example, if we buy a house, we will live in it for more than one year, which means we will use this blessing for a long time. If we buy a book, then after reading (using or consuming this good) we put it on the shelf - and it will not go anywhere. Both the book and the house are long-term goods. Other benefits may disappear already in the process of consumption itself, the use of this benefit. For example, food. Every day we consume food that disappears already in the process of consumption, in the process of satisfying a person's need for food. If we build a fire and kindle it with matches, then we will not be able to use the burnt matches again. Food and matches are short-lived goods. We equally need both long-term and short-term, depending on our current needs and the purposes of using these benefits. We acquire short-term goods more often. So, long-term benefits involve multiple use, and short-term benefits disappear after (or in the process of) a single use (consumption). /21/

Direct and indirect (present and future) benefits. Benefits are either direct or indirect. What does this mean? Direct goods (or real goods) are already created goods that are ready for sale and consumption. Resources are called indirect (or future) goods. Because thanks to resources, only direct (real), ready-made goods can be produced. For example, bread is a finished product. And flour, water and yeast are ingredients for the production (baking) of bread. These components are only the future bread, not the finished product, which means they are indirect goods. If the destination of direct goods is almost impossible to change, then indirect goods can be intended for the production of several goods. For example, we can use the same flour and yeast for baking both bread and buns or cakes. Direct goods are intended for direct consumption, so otherwise they are also called consumer goods. Indirect goods are used in the production of consumer goods, so otherwise they are also called production or resources. /21/

Complementary (complementary) goods. Complementary goods are goods whose demand is so interconnected that an increase in the price of one good or service leads to a decrease in the demand for another good. Two goods are complementary, or complementary in consumption, if an increase in the price of one of them shifts the demand curve for the other to the left. The cross-price elasticity of demand for such goods is negative. Example: cars and gasoline, tennis rackets and balls. The consumer cannot use complementary goods or services separately. Complementarity can be absolute (hard) and relative. Rigid complementarity is characterized by the fact that one of the benefits - complements corresponds to a quite certain amount of the other. For example, a pair of skis requires a pair of bindings. With relative complementarity, there is no clear set quantity. For example, a driver can pour one or three liters into a car tank - the car will start moving in both cases. /4/

Fungible Goods. Fungible goods (substitutes) are such goods or services that are considered by consumers as economically replacing each other. Substitutes include not only many consumer goods And production resources, but also transport services (train - plane - car). /9/ A measure of the interchangeability of two goods is the cross elasticity of demand for them. Goods with a high degree of substitution have a high cross elasticity of demand, while products with a low substitutability have a low cross elasticity of demand. However, it should be noted that it is quite difficult to calculate the cross elasticity of demand due to the lack of necessary statistical information and the use of special calculation skills. Therefore, in applied economic sciences such calculations, as a rule, are almost never used, and the interchangeability of goods is determined on the basis of expert assessments qualitative methods of analysis. /4/ By analogy with complementarity, interchangeability can be absolute (perfect) or relative. Perfect fungibility is characterized by a situation in which one of the benefits-substitutes can completely and completely replace the other. With relative substitutability, one good can only be partially replaced by another. It is very important for producers (firms) to keep in mind and use the properties of complementarity and interchangeability of goods, because they influence the behavior of consumers when buying and consuming goods, consumer choice.

Based on the criteria for the level of competitiveness in consumption and the degree of exclusion from consumption, the following classification of goods is built (Table 1) /18, p. 141/

Table 1 - Classification of goods

Competitive and non-competitive goods. The criterion in this distinction is the rivalry of the various compared goods in consumption. Goods will be competitive (rival) in consumption when the receipt of benefits from the consumption of this good by one economic entity makes it impossible for any other economic entity to receive these benefits in the same respect from the same good. That is, the use of a good prevents others from enjoying this good. Non-competitive in consumption are such benefits, the receipt of benefits from the consumption of which by a given economic entity contains the possibility for other economic entities to receive the same benefits from a similar benefit in the same respect. That is, anyone can enjoy the good without interfering with others. Consider using the freeway. During light traffic, where there is no "traffic jam", the highway is a non-competitive boon. An example of a competitive good is a congested highway with a lot of cars. /7, p. 222/

Goods excluded and non-excluded from consumption. Excluded from consumption are such goods, the possession of the right to use which by a given economic entity at the same time means for it the ability to prevent all others. economic entities consume such a good. /7, p. 222/. A good is non-excludable if people cannot be excluded from its consumption. As a consequence, it is difficult or impossible to set a fee for the use of non-excludable benefits - they can be used without direct payment. One example of a non-excludable good is national defense. If a nation has provided a defense system, all citizens enjoy its benefits. Non-excludable goods are not necessarily national in nature. If the city administration implements a pest control program, all firms and all consumers benefit. In fact, it would be impossible to deprive an individual farmer of the benefits that this program will bring. /19/

Public and private goods. Most of the goods offered by producers and in demand by consumers are goods intended for personal consumption, or private goods. A good is private if, being consumed by one person, it cannot be simultaneously consumed by another. Ice cream is a private good. When you eat your ice cream cone, your buddy can't eat it. Your clothing is also a private good. When you wear it, everyone else cannot wear it at the same time. /1, p. 64-65/

But there are goods that are socially necessary and, moreover, perform important social functions. A large-scale example of a public good would be goods designed to meet the needs of national defense, and an example of a "local" one would be navigational signs (such as, say, beacons or lighthouses). These goods are called public goods because of two distinctive characteristics. First, the consumer of public goods, as a rule, does not pay for them himself, which means that the marginal cost of consumption is zero. For example, the cost of building and operating a lighthouse does not depend on the number of ships passing by it. Secondly, there is no practical possibility to limit the number of consumers or exclude someone from this number. The lighthouse ensures safe navigation for all ships within the range of its signals. Most public goods require very significant production and distribution costs. Thus, there is a certain special group of goods, the production and distribution of which, based on their very nature, is subject to state control. They could be called "pure public goods". For example, the approval of the rates of "lighthouse dues", which ship owners pay for each cubic meter of the vessel's conditional volume at each port entry or transit passage. In theory, "pure economic goods" are those that are collectively consumed by all citizens, whether people pay for them or not; we are talking about the fact that the consumption of a public good by some individuals does not reduce its availability to others, that no person can be excluded from the use of this good, even if he refuses to pay for it. /16, 84-85 p./ The fact that most of the public goods are not provided by private markets is not accidental. Because of the "free riders" problem (i.e., the free ride problem), private markets have very tenuous guarantees that the public good will be produced in the right amount. A “free rider” is one who manages to enjoy some good that requires the cost of its production, without paying anything for it. This problem concerns, in particular, public goods, since if someone purchased such a good, then it would be available for consumption by everyone else. Suppose, for example, that a market were formed for the organization of national defense. Even if each of us felt that we needed defense, we would not have the proper incentives to acquire our share of the defense capability. Since the amount of national defense capability I will receive will be the same as everyone else's, I am determined to wait for someone else to acquire it than to invest my fair share. I will use someone else's purchases for free. But, of course, if everyone waits for someone else to pay for national defense, then there won't be any at all. To solve the problem free use, the country must find some way to jointly decide how much to spend on defense. State structures and are created to make these kinds of collective decisions. Many of the benefits provided by the state are in fact public goods. National parks are a mixed case, as nature in parks is a public good, according to at least, as long as the park does not get too crowded, but the services of cafes, restaurants, etc. are not public goods. /1, p. 64-65/

Some goods, depending on the circumstances, can be both public and private (mixed goods). For example, fireworks are a public good if they are produced in a city with a large population. But if you're admiring fireballs at a private entertainment perk (Disneyland), fireworks are more of a private good because the attendees paid for the entrance ticket. In order to define a public good, it is necessary to estimate the number of consumers who benefit from the use of the good, and the ability to interfere with them. The problem of free use arises when the number of users is large and it is not possible to exclude even one of them. If the lighthouse benefits the captains of many ships, it is a public good; if the owner of the port primarily benefits, it is rather a private good. /2, p. 243/ Experience post-industrial society shows that the market is able to identify and satisfy the demand only for private goods. The creation and implementation of public goods is the task of the state. However, public goods are not homogeneous. They act as purely and partially public goods. The production of purely public goods is entirely the responsibility of the state (public order, for example). At the same time, the creation of partially public goods (education, health care, social insurance) can be carried out by both the state and the private sector of the economy. At the same time, the state guarantees only such a level of reproduction of partially public goods, which in this moment can be resourced state budget determined in turn by the development of production. /17/

Club benefits. One of the interesting ways to connect the market mechanism to the production of conditional and excluded public goods is to unite consumers of such goods in organizations specially created for this purpose - clubs. They act in the external, completely “market” world as ordinary buyers of such goods, and in the internal sphere they restrict the access of potential consumers to such goods, conditioned by the need to join the ranks of club members, while reducing the individual costs of such members for obtaining such club goods. /7, 227 p./

An inferior good. Inferior goods are goods such as cheap cigarettes and low-quality liquor whose consumption decreases as income rises (with other equal conditions). As income rises, the demand curve for such a good shifts to the left, for which the income elasticity of demand is negative. /4/

Goods that differ in their ability to control value by consumers. Explicit quality goods - before choosing a good (good), you can check its quality. Benefits of latent utility - the qualities of a good are determined after its purchase. When choosing, the buyer can be guided own experience or advice from friends (for example, buying household chemicals). Goods on trust - the buyer is in the dark about the quality of the goods even after buying it. In this case, a third disinterested party is required to report the quality of the good. This category includes: a) goods with an imperceptible long-term effect (vitamins, medical service); b) complex services for which it is difficult to say about the quality of their performance (some medical services, car service); c) goods that have one of the most important features of quality - the absence of catastrophic failures (plumbing, car). Approved and disapproved goods are goods whose value is determined by society. An example of an approved good is ballet. Drugs are frowned upon in society as a whole and approved in some subcultures. /19/

Essential Goods These are the goods that make a worthy existence. These are goods that society believes people should consume or receive regardless of their income. Essential goods include health, education, shelter and food. So, we - the society - can understand that everyone should have adequate housing, and take steps to provide them. /1, 67 p./

Luxury goods and consumer goods. We write in a notebook with a fountain pen or pencil, many have mobile phone or a personal computer, we wear clothes, etc. We are all surrounded by items that we need on a daily basis and satisfy our daily needs. These products are mass-produced: we have similar pens and notebooks, you can meet a person in the street in a similar jacket, because these goods are produced by firms in in large numbers and are relatively inexpensive. And which of you writes with a Parker fountain pen? How many of you wear clothes from famous designers? I think no. This is a very expensive product that not every consumer can afford. Such goods are called luxuries. From the point of view of consumer qualities, nothing may change, because consumer qualities are not the only and key feature luxury goods. The main function that these products perform is prestige. For example, two jackets may be of the same quality, color, etc. At the same time, the difference in price will be significant, because one jacket is produced in a mass-produced factory and in large quantities, and the other is produced in the workshop of a famous designer and in a single copy. By purchasing a second jacket, the consumer pays not only for the required quality, but also for the "name" (or brand) of the manufacturer. Luxury items are products of exclusive, prestigious production. Consumer goods are goods produced in large quantities according to one sample. The concept of a luxury item is constantly changing: things that were not luxury items may eventually become such - for example, antiques. Goods that were luxury items cease to be them, because at one time a fountain pen, a car, and a mobile phone were exclusive goods and luxury items. Now they are products of mass production and consumption. But there are also benefits that have always been and remain at the moment, prestigious and luxury goods. For example, gems. /21/

2.2 Scarcity of goods

To obtain the missing consumer goods, indirect economic benefits are needed - resources. If resources were available in unlimited quantities, then all the benefits necessary to meet the needs of society would be produced in sufficient quantities. But resources are not enough to meet all needs, that is, to produce the necessary goods. The scarcity of goods depends on the scarcity of resources used to create these goods. If resources are absolutely limited, then we will not be able to produce benefits from these resources forever. For example, if oil reserves are limited, then gasoline will not be produced when oil runs out. In addition, the needs of society are constantly growing, therefore, more gasoline will be required. But it is possible that people will find another resource to obtain fuel (meaning currently unknown), the reserves of which will be less limited than oil reserves. If the resources are relatively limited, if they are capable of renewal, then the amount of benefits derived from these resources will be relatively limited, and not absolutely.

Any economic action starts with identifying the relevant need. The relative and temporary satisfaction of needs within a given period inevitably entails their subsequent renewal, growth, complication and deepening. This position remains constant. On the other hand, our means to meet needs (resources and technology) are almost always limited. This limitation may vary.

Depending on the ability to replenish their stocks, goods are divided into reproducible and non-reproducible. Thus, the volumes and degree of replenishment of stocks of various goods characterize their limited relative to each other. And they are expressed in the category of rarity of goods.

The stocks of goods available to a given consumer may not be enough to satisfy this need in its entirety, which is most often the case. But even if we imagine that this specific, narrowly defined need is completely satisfied in a given period, then in this case it will be quite obvious that all other needs existing in a given economic entity that could also be satisfied through the use of the same means , as a saturated need, remained unsatisfied. Such a limitation of goods relative to the needs for them is expressed in the category of insufficiency of goods.

As a result, scarcity and insufficiency act as different sides of the scarcity of goods. And the very limitation of goods, including resources and technologies, seems to be an almost universal property of goods that are part of the sphere of economic life of people. /7, 22 p./

There is a contradiction between needs and goods. Usually, needs are considered unlimited, and goods are limited. This contradiction is the most fundamental in public life. It acts differently depending on the type of nature management, the way to satisfy needs. It is especially acute in market conditions. Such a contradictory interpretation of needs and benefits is phantom; is the ultimate idealization. The limited nature of basic goods is the reason for the need to distribute them, to study the behavior of people when they choose certain goods, which becomes the object of economic science (the reason for its emergence). The level of provision of goods determines the level of human happiness. Poverty, poverty testify to the lack of goods. Their wealth - wealth generates wealth, and in market conditions, wealth takes the form of capital. The rarity of natural substances characterizes their prevalence in nature and society. Rare items can be plentiful due to the fact that people do not need them. Widespread resources may be limited in relation to society's needs for them. At present, society even has to think about the sufficiency of oxygen in the air to ensure a normal life. Especially when it comes to other resources. The insufficiency of goods was the cause of the emergence of economic science. Resource constraints have always existed. In market conditions, it takes the form of a shortage - a lack of goods in comparison with the demand for them. Scarcity is a common problem faced by rich and poor countries alike. The severity of the shortage, of course, can be different: some people lack bread, while others need black caviar for bread. The scarcity may be the resources themselves, but more often than not, the scarcity is the means to acquire them. The scarcity of goods leads to discrimination of certain consumers - the creation of conditions under which they do not consume these goods. /12/

3. Main Directions for Improving the Use of Benefits in a Transitional Economy

The sphere of production of public goods is essentially the only one in which the planned economy more or less successfully competed with the market economy. The socialist countries were obviously inferior to the leading Western countries, for example, in the production of agricultural products and consumer goods, but maintained parity in the military field, had significant achievements in the field of science, had relatively advanced systems education and healthcare.

The main feature of the planned economy was the maximum nationalization economic life. In general, it was detrimental to the economy, since it did not give scope for entrepreneurial activity, in fact blocking competition and the economic motivation associated with private property. This doomed the socialist countries to lagging behind in the production of private goods.

As far as public goods are concerned, their production is generally favored by the ability of the state, through coercion, to solve the free rider problem and to mobilize resources for the production of these goods. The accumulation of resources at the disposal of the state was relatively easier to ensure in a planned economy than in a market economy.

However, two circumstances must be pointed out, due to which, despite the significant scale of production of public goods in the socialist countries, the efficiency of this production was still low. First, in the absence of democracy, the preferences of ordinary consumers of public goods were practically not adequately expressed. The allocation of resources was carried out in accordance with the specific interests and ideas of narrow privileged groups. This excluded the achievement of high allocative efficiency. Secondly, within the framework of a planned economy, especially in the later stages of its evolution, effective incentives for the rational use of resources were not provided, resulting in X-inefficiency. .

Thus, for example, in the field of defense efforts of the state, a double kind of extravagance was manifested. On the one hand, from the point of view of goals, these efforts crossed the line of reasonable sufficiency, turning into an arms race that bled the economy. On the other hand, even if we are not critical of the goals, it is impossible to deny that the specific tasks put forward were often solved at any cost with costs that exceeded the rational level.

Transition to modern mixed economy, in which the central place belongs to the market, in principle, is capable of providing a significant increase in the efficiency of production of not only private, but also public goods. At the same time, there are reasons to note that in a number of post-socialist countries, including Russia, the transition period (in any case, its initial stage) was characterized by an excessive weakening of the state. This led to a crisis in the production of a number of public goods, for example, in the field of fundamental science.

During the transitional period, there is a natural reduction in the participation of the state in economic processes, mainly in the production and distribution of private goods. However, this in itself does not imply a weakening of the capacity of the state in those areas, the sufficient development of which cannot be ensured through the mere free operation of market forces. Ordinary private goods quantitatively dominate the economy. However, the creation of many public goods and goods with special merits plays the role of a decisive prerequisite for the successful functioning of the economy and its sustainable long-term development. From this point of view, a special place belongs to the provision of law and order, environmental measures, the development of science, etc.

Thus, among the key tasks transition period refers to the preservation, and if necessary, restoration, of the potential for the production of public goods. This, in turn, implies a well-thought-out policy for the development of the public sector. Its inevitable and fully justified quantitative reduction must be accompanied by qualitative changes aimed at a decisive increase in efficiency. /13, p. 61-63/

Conclusion

IN term paper the concept of economic good as a category of economic theory is considered. Benefits are things and services that can satisfy the needs of people. Certain benefits exist in their natural form, people use them, but they are not the object of economic activity. Others can be obtained as a result of economic activity, but in an amount limited by the level of development of production, the availability of raw materials, technologies. Consequently, there is a problem of the limitedness of economic benefits relative to needs (the problem of relative redundancy). An economic good can be used to satisfy several needs, while an economic need can be satisfied by several goods at the same time. In economic activity, people use means to achieve their goals, which are sometimes not enough and which can be applied in different ways. The value of a good is determined by the intensity of the need (a psychological value that varies depending on the individual) and the available amount of the good that can satisfy this need. Depending on the evaluation criteria, there are various classifications economic benefits.

The course work provides examples of each type of goods, as well as the following classification. The paper considers tangible and intangible, economic and non-economic, specific, long-term and short-term (short-term), direct and indirect (present and future), interchangeable, complementary (complementary), competitive and non-competitive, exhaustible and inexhaustible from consumption, public and private, club, inferior, essential goods. As well as goods that differ in the ability to control the value of consumers, luxury goods and consumer goods, as types of goods.

In addition, the problem of limited benefits is considered. Resources are needed to produce goods, so the amount of goods is limited by the amount of available resources. Resources are exhaustible, therefore, for the efficient production of goods, it is necessary to think about the problem of choice, that is, what and how much goods to produce from available resources. The scarcity of goods is largely due to their fragility.

It was found that among the key tasks of the transition period is the preservation, and if necessary, restoration, of the potential for the production of public goods.

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2. Mankyu N. G. Principles of economics. - St. Petersburg: Peter Kom, 1999. -

3. Borisov E.F., Petrov A.A., Sterlikov F.F. Directory. Economy. - M.: Finance and statistics, 1998. - 38-40 p.

4. Rumyantseva E.E. New economic encyclopedia. - M.: Infra-M, 2000.

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13. Yakobson L.I. Government sector Economics: Economic Theory and Politics. M.: GU-HSE, 2000. - 61-63 p.

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20. Internet: econominfo.ru. Article. Economic benefits, their properties and classification.

21. Internet: www.milogiya2007.ru. Article. Good.

Public goods: types and features

1.1 The concept and classification of economic benefits

Consider first the concept of good.

Different authors define it differently. The most common is the opinion that defines the good as any positive meaning, object, phenomenon, product of labor that satisfies a certain human need and meets the interests, goals, aspirations of people. There are other definitions of the good in the economic literature. A. Marshall, for example, understood the good as “all things that satisfy human needs”. In this definition, goods are limited only to things, objects. Sometimes benefits are considered as embodied utility, which can be not only the products of labor, but also the fruits of nature.1 So A. Storch emphasizes that "the sentence pronounced by our judgment about the usefulness of objects makes them goods." The property of any object, which allows you to satisfy a certain need of a person, does not yet make it good. The ability of an object to satisfy any need must be realized by a person.

In the economic literature there is a complex system of classification of goods. Depending on the criteria underlying it, the benefits are divided into different groups.

1. Tangible and intangible.

Material goods are divided into two types with different functional purposes. The first type of things are consumer goods necessary for the life of people (natural gifts of nature - earth, water, air; food, clothing, housing). The second type is the means of production used to make consumer goods. Sometimes material goods also include relations for the appropriation of material goods (patents, copyrights, mortgages).

Intangible benefits are benefits that affect the development of human abilities. Such benefits are created in the non-productive sphere, in health care, education, art, cinema, theater, museums, etc. Intangible goods are divided into two groups: internal and external goods. Internal benefits are given to man by nature, which he develops of his own free will (ear of music - playing music, voice - singing). External benefits - this is what the outside world gives to meet needs (reputation, business connections, patronage, etc.).

2. Economic and non-economic.

This distinction is related to the concept of rarity. The non-economic benefit is available in unlimited quantities. Non-economic (free) benefits are provided by nature without human effort (water, air, etc.). These benefits exist in nature “freely”, in an amount sufficient to fully and permanently satisfy human needs. An economic good (this term belongs to the subjectivist school of economic science; the representative is the famous Italian economist A. Pesenti) is a rare good. These benefits are the object or result of economic activity, i.e. they can be obtained in a limited amount compared to the needs met.

The transformation of the concept of "good" and "economic good" is associated with value. If just good means the presence of utility, then value reflects a combination of two characteristics - utility and rarity. The usefulness of any good is manifested only in the process of its consumption or use. An economic good can be produced and used: a) for its intended purpose - to meet needs (in natural economy); b) as a commodity that is produced not for own consumption, but for sale; c) as a source of income (for example, the owner of capital acquires the remaining factors of production and produces products, the sale of which brings income). Economic benefits, being products of economic activity, are characterized by a cyclic existence.

It has two aspects: a) in accordance with the phases of economic cycles, the volumes of production of economic goods, their exchange, distribution and consumption increase or decrease; b) economic benefits, which are tangible assets, have their own period of existence, called the life cycle.

3. Long-term and short-term (short-term) benefits.

This division depends on the period of use of the good. There are benefits that serve us for a long time, and for our needs we can use them more than once. For example, if we buy a house, we will live in it for more than one year, which means we will use this blessing for a long time. If we buy a book, then after reading (using or consuming this good) we put it on the shelf - and it will not go anywhere. Both the book and the house are long-term goods. Other benefits may disappear already in the process of consumption itself, the use of this benefit. For example, food. Every day we consume food that disappears already in the process of consumption, in the process of satisfying a person's need for food. If we build a fire and kindle it with matches, then we will not be able to use the burnt matches again. Food and matches are short-lived goods. We equally need both long-term and short-term, depending on our current needs and the purposes of using these benefits. We acquire short-term goods more often. So, long-term goods involve multiple use, and short-term goods disappear after (or in the process of) a single use (consumption).3

4. Direct and indirect benefits.

Direct goods are created goods that are ready to be sold and consumed. Resources are called indirect goods. Because it is only thanks to resources that direct, ready-made goods can be produced. For example, bread is a finished product. And flour, water and yeast are ingredients for the production (baking) of bread. These components are only the future bread, not the finished product, which means they are indirect goods. If the destination of direct goods is almost impossible to change, then indirect goods can be intended for the production of several goods. For example, we can use the same flour and yeast for baking both bread and buns or cakes. Direct goods are intended for direct consumption, so otherwise they are also called consumer goods. Indirect goods are used in the production of consumer goods, so otherwise they are also called production or resources.

5. Complementary and Substitutable Goods.

Complementary goods are goods whose demand is so interconnected that an increase in the price of one good or service leads to a decrease in the demand for another good. Two goods are complementary, or complementary in consumption, if an increase in the price of one of them shifts the demand curve for the other to the left. The cross-price elasticity of demand for such goods is negative. Example: cars and gasoline, tennis rackets and balls. The consumer cannot use complementary goods or services separately. Complementarity can be absolute (hard) and relative. Rigid complementarity is characterized by the fact that one of the benefits - complements corresponds to a quite certain amount of the other. For example, a pair of skis requires a pair of bindings. With relative complementarity, there is no clear set quantity. For example, a driver can fill the tank of a car with both one and three liters - the car will start moving in both cases.

Fungible goods (substitutes) are such goods or services that are considered by consumers as economically replacing each other. Substitutes include not only many consumer goods and production resources, but also transport services (train - plane - car). A measure of the interchangeability of two goods is the cross elasticity of demand for them. Goods with a high degree of substitution have a high cross elasticity of demand, while products with a low substitutability have a low cross elasticity of demand. However, it should be noted that it is quite difficult to calculate the cross elasticity of demand due to the lack of necessary statistical information and the use of special calculation skills. Therefore, in applied economic sciences, such calculations, as a rule, are almost never used, and the interchangeability of goods is determined on the basis of expert assessments by qualitative methods of analysis. By analogy with complementarity, interchangeability can be absolute (perfect) or relative. Perfect fungibility is characterized by a situation in which one of the benefits-substitutes can completely and completely replace the other. With relative substitutability, one good can only be partially replaced by another. It is very important for producers (firms) to keep in mind and use the properties of complementarity and interchangeability of goods, because they influence the behavior of consumers when buying and consuming goods, consumer choice.

6. Present and future benefits.

The first are at the direct disposal of the economic entity. The second he will be able to have only in the future. The individual prefers present goods to future ones.

7. Competitive and non-competitive goods.

The criterion in this distinction is the rivalry of the various compared goods in consumption. Goods will be competitive (rival) in consumption when the receipt of benefits from the consumption of this good by one economic entity makes it impossible for any other economic entity to receive these benefits in the same respect from the same good. That is, the use of a good prevents others from enjoying this good. Non-competitive in consumption are such goods, the receipt of benefits from the consumption of which by a given economic entity contains the possibility for other economic entities to receive the same benefits from a similar benefit in the same respect. That is, anyone can enjoy the good without interfering with others. Consider using the freeway. During light traffic, where there is no "traffic jam", the highway is a non-competitive boon. An example of a competitive good is a congested highway with a lot of cars.

8. Excluded and non-excluded goods from consumption.

Excluded from consumption are such goods, the possession of the right to use which by a given economic entity at the same time means for him the opportunity to prevent all other economic entities from consuming such a benefit. A good is non-excludable if people cannot be excluded from its consumption. As a consequence, it is difficult or impossible to set a fee for the use of non-excludable goods - they can be used without direct payment. One example of a non-excludable good is national defense. If a nation has provided a defense system, all citizens enjoy its benefits. Non-excludable goods are not necessarily national in nature. If the city administration implements a pest control program, all firms and all consumers benefit. In fact, it would be impossible to deprive an individual farmer of the benefits that this program will bring.

9. Public and private goods.

Most of the goods offered by producers and in demand by consumers are goods intended for personal consumption, or private goods. A good is private if, being consumed by one person, it cannot be simultaneously consumed by another.

The experience of post-industrial society shows that the market is able to identify and satisfy the demand only for private goods. The creation and implementation of public goods is the task of the state. However, public goods are not homogeneous. They act as purely and partially public goods. The production of purely public goods is entirely the responsibility of the state (public order, for example). At the same time, the creation of partially public goods (education, healthcare, social insurance) can be carried out both by the state and the private sector of the economy. At the same time, the state guarantees only such a level of reproduction of partially public goods, which at a given moment can be provided with the resources of the state budget, which in turn is determined by the development of production.

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Good (economics)

Good- everything that can satisfy the daily life needs of people, bring benefits to people, give pleasure. In the economic and social sense, the good means everything that, having value, can have and market price, therefore, in a broad sense, all property good. In German gut and in french bien have a special meaning real estate. Property benefits are created, acquired, changed, distributed on the basis of internal, managing economic life. economic laws studied political economy. The acquisition of values or things, both individual and a combination of such property benefits, property, affects the social status of each person, gives rise to various social classes, depending on the amount of property benefits that everyone achieves and uses. The difference between such classes, their mutual relation and mutual influence, the transitions of people from one class to another in connection with the creation of various kinds of human unities, the movement of property goods and the movement of the classes themselves, ascending and descending, occurs on the basis of internal social life that governs social life, or public, laws, studied sociology, or social science.

Goods classification

By nature

According to the need for the distribution of wealth

Gift Goods Goods that exist in such quantities that their distribution is not required.
Rare goods, which, in turn, are shared ...
- By competitiveness:
  - Competitive - the use of a good prevents others from using this good.
  - Non-competitive - anyone can enjoy the good without interfering with others.
- By exclusion:
  - Excluded goods are goods that only the payer has access to.
  - Non-excludable goods - goods from which it is difficult to cut off "hares".

All rare goods can be divided into four categories:

Where possible, value control by the consumer

Benefits of explicit quality - even before choosing, you can check the quality.
Benefits of hidden utility - the quality is determined after the purchase. When choosing, the buyer can be guided by his own experience or the advice of friends. For example, goods household chemicals.
Good on trust ( English credence goods) - the user is in the dark about the quality even after the purchase. In this case, a third disinterested party is required to report the quality of the good. This category includes:
- benefits with an imperceptible long-term effect ( vitamins , medical service).
- complex services for which it is difficult to say about the quality of their performance (some medical services, car service).
- goods, in which one of the most important signs of quality is the absence of catastrophic failures ( plumbing , automobile , web hosting).
Approved goods and disapproved goods are goods whose value is determined by society. An example of an approved good is ballet. drugs are a disapproved good in society as a whole and an approved good in some subcultures.

By participation in the consumer basket

Depending on his income and prices for goods, the consumer chooses his consumption vector in accordance with some criteria in such a way that .

It is worth noting that The category of a product may change with changes in consumer income and product prices. For example, with an increase in income public transport becomes a low-value commodity, giving way to an inexpensive personal car. With even more - consumption increases luxury cars, discarding inexpensive brands in the category of low value.

According to the dependence of consumption on income

According to the dependence of consumption on the price

For most goods (such goods are called normal). Veblen products and Giffen goods, which .

According to the interdependence of two goods

Two goods and in the consumer basket can be:

Types economic benefits

competitive exclusions


(non-)durable intermediate consumer investment

apparent quality hidden utility approved

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