I. If we could produce all the food we needed in our own
backyards, and if technology were so advanced that we
could all make anything we wanted in our basements,
would an “economic problem” exist?
2. Suppose that everyone was completely versatile-able
to do everyone else’s work just as well as his or her own.
Would a division oflabor still be useful in society? Why?
3. Modern economic society is sometimes described as
depending on “bureaucrats” who allow their lives to be
directed by the large corporations or government agencies
for which they work. Assuming that this description has
some truth, would you think that modern society should
be described as one of tradition, command, or the market?
4. In what way do your own plans for the future coincide
with or depart from the occupations of your parents?
Do you think that the so-called generational split is
observable in all modern societies?
5. Economics is often called the science of scarcity. How
can this label be applied to a society of considerable
affluence such as our own?
6. What elements of tradition and command do you think
are indispensable in a modern industrial society? Do
you think that modern society could exist without any
dependence on tradition or without any exercise of
command?
7. Much of production and distribution involves the
creation or the handling of things. Why are production
and distribution social problems rather than engineering
or physical problems?
8. Do you consider humankind’s wants to be insatiable?
Does this imply that scarcity must always exist?
9. Take some of the main problems that disturb us in the
United States today: neglect, poverty, inflation, pollution,
racial discrimination. To what extent do you find
such problems in societies run by tradition? by command?
What is your feeling about the responsibility the
market system bears for these problems in the United
States?
