Of course, we don't want just one thing.  We all have a wide range of desires, some, of which, we call needs.  Every difficult decision I can imagine involves some type of trade-off calculation among wants.  Is it better to have more of want A satisfied and less of want B satisfied? This would seem easy to discover if there is only one person with only 2 wants.  Yet, even then it is not so simple. 

The difficulty occurs because I can never consider all possible combinations of the various levels to which my wants may be satisfied.  This is easy to see if we look at wants from a value point of view.  Every want is something that has some value to someone.  The value of satisfying a want is not fixed.  It varies with time and depends upon what other wants are satisfied.

I have at times wanted a glass of water more than at other times, but generally I place little value on a glass of water because it is so readily available.  Put me in a desert dying of thirst and my opinion of the value of a glass of water changes dramatically.  Yes, this is an extreme example, but it does apply generally.  Show me how I can produce millions of bottles of water for 10 cents each and sell them for $1 each and my opinion of the value changes again.  My opinion of the value of something can change because of something totally unrelated.  Suppose I discover I can buy $10 worth of silicon, spend a $1000 transforming it into electronic components, and then sell it for $1 billion.  My interest in bottling water will change.

ç  Prior Page of Text    Next Page of Text è
(C) 2005-2014 Wayne M. Angel.  All rights reserved.