“Consumer’s Needs and Wants”
> Explanatory Article by Marios Kyriakou, MSc Economics
About the author: Marios Kyriakou has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Cyprus and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Warwick. He is also a holder of CySEC’s Advanced Certificate in Financial Services Legal Framework and a professional in Online Trading, Forex and CFDs with more than 7 years of experience.
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<Last updated 13.04.2020>
Dear reader,
Hi! If you are interested in Economics, I’ve prepared the below to help your understanding about what consumers want. You should take a look at this short article in which I discuss the needs and wants of consumers in the economy.
A consumer, like you and me, must satisfy his, or her, needs and wants to live, to survive. We need food, water, clothing, house, health care and much more.
The consumer is required to engage in economic activities to achieve satisfaction of those needs on a continuous basis. So, you see that needs and wants give incentives to work, to gather resources, to buy or sell products.
A need is the unwanted feeling of needing something that is missing, which is accompanied by the effort of trying to eliminate that feeling in order to feel… good. There are various needs, such as the need for friendship, love, psychological support and many more. However, in Economics, we are interested about the Economic Needs, those that can only be satisfied by using Economic Goods and Services.
Economic needs are the basic, natural, physical needs determined by Nature. Human beings must satisfy them to ensure survival. Social needs are the ones that are generated by the interaction that human beings have with others in a society and the continuous development of civilization, such as: The need for education, for entertainment, for looking good and have a good image, the need for transport, communication, information exchange.
Needs and wants are continuously multiplied and evolve. They have the following main characteristics:
> Evolution: applies for all, both physical and social needs. Needs do not change but only the means we use to satisfy them.
> Multiplication: this applies for social needs only. These needs are continuously multiplied due to trade, advertising, information exchange, the desire of people to mimic others and acquire the necessary means that will allow them to feel that they belong in a community, a group and get acknowledgement and an identity.
“I hope I am clear on this one. If not, contact us on social media and we will do our best to help you.
Thank you for reading my articles and watching my videos.”
Marios Kyriakou