ABSTRACT
In southeast Asia, rice is grown in paddies tended very carefully by many workers. In south-central United States, by contrast, rice is grown with very small amounts of labor on each acre of land. Which combination of land and labor is the better solution to the question of How to Produce? Although technology determines the range of alternatives technically pos sible, the choice among them is an economic decision. If we want to get the most output possible from our limited factors of production, we must economize by using fewer of the resources that are in shortest supply and more of those that are readily available. In southeast Asia, arable land is much scarcer than labor, so it is economical to use every spare inch of land by heavy applications of labor. In the United States, however, labor is scarcer than land, so we economize on the use of labor and cover the most ground possible with the fewest workers.
