What Are Three Economic Questions Every Society Must Answer?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 25, 2020

The three economic questions that every society must answer are as follows: “What to produce?” “How to produce?” and “For whom to produce?” The answers to these questions handle the matters of how to deal with scarcity and how to efficiently allocate resources.

In a command economy, the matter of what goods to produce is handled by a central economic authority. Contrary to that, a free market is governed by individual choices. The production of goods can be handled either domestically, or it can be outsourced to foreign countries. Finally, making sure that the targeted customers are able to afford a service or a product is of the utmost importance.