• Economics manages available resources to satisfy human needs.
• Resources are limited, so there's a distinction between basic and secondary requirements.
• Basic needs are universal, but economic inequality prevents everyone from fulfilling them.
• Secondary needs depend on socioeconomic status and societal progress.

Components of the Economy

• Humans need essential things like food, clothing, and housing, along with services such as education and healthcare.
• These are obtained through economic activity, which includes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods.
• Economic activity is distributed across three sectors: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Responsible Consumption

• Advertising's significance, continuous product updates, and the media's role can blur lines between secondary and basic needs.
• Consumers are often created as a result.

Sustainable Production

• This reduces natural resource use, pollution, and waste from production.
• Businesses doing this encourage strategies for economic growth without risking future generations' production, social, and environmental needs.

Participants in the Economic Process

• Three economic agents (businesses, the State, and families) interact to form an economic circuit.
• Businesses earn income by selling goods and services in a market to families, who pay for them.
• The market provides goods and services to families.
• Businesses pay taxes to the State and receive infrastructure and aid, while the State provides public services to families.
• Workers are hired for salaries.

The Role of Businesses in the Economy

• Businesses produce goods, distribute/sell to families/the State, and gain economic benefits.
• Classifications are made by size:
  • Small businesses: up to 50 employees.
  • Medium businesses: 50 to 250 employees.
  • Large businesses: over 250 employees (sometimes called multinationals with a presence in multiple countries).
• Classifications are made by ownership:
• Public: belonging to the State
• Private: belonging to individuals.
• Mixed: having both public and private capital.
• Classifications made by organization include:
  • Single person businesses
  • Limited companies (depending on the number of partners).

The State's Role in the Economy

• The State manages public administration and engages in economic activities via the public sector.
• Infrastructures and public works promotes economic activity.
• The State supports private initiative by offering subsidies, loans, tax advantages, and contracts.
• The State delivers services like transport, security, and social benefits (education/healthcare).
• Private companies might deliver services on behalf of the State (privatization).

Resources of the Economy

• Resources for economic activity are factors of production, classified into four groups.
• Non-renewable: Depleted when used (minerals, fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas).
• Renewable: Regenerate at the same rate they're used, sustainable (water, forests, and arable land).
• Inexhaustible: Not conditioned by human activity, cannot be depleted (solar, wind, or tidal energy).
• Labor: Physical/intellectual tasks to produce goods/services.
• Capital: Resources to transform natural resources include physical/productive (machinery, tools, buildings) and financial (money, stocks, bonds).
• Technology: Considered physical capital, it's a key factor with heavy investment leading to technological advancements for increased production.

Labor and Labor Relations

• Work produces goods/services to meet needs and is a source of income and a right.
• Remunerated work is called employment.
• Inactive population: Unable to work (age, temporary/permanent disability).
• Active population: People who can work, employed or not.
• Working conditions such as good working conditions and adequate salaries are regulated by laws agreed to by social agents.

Social Agents

• Employers: Integrated into business organizations, defend interests, and receive legal advice.
• Workers: Organized in unions (collective defense) or assert rights individually.
• Workers have the recognized right to strike to protest or improve working conditions.
• The State: Mediates between business organizations/unions and approves laws governing labor conditions.