ABSTRACT
Economic principles are, broadly speaking, logical reactions to the challenge of expending scarce resources to obtain a maximum return. Most resources are scarce because they are limited, whereas demand for them is unlimited. Producers and consumers will not generally give up more resources than necessary, or give resources of a greater value than the commodity exchanged. For the producer, the businessman, the return from an economic activity is the money surplus or profit left after all the expenses have been deducted from the price realized; this is generally expressed as the return on capital. His object is to find the combination of ends (products) and means (factors of production) which provides the best return. The consumer measures his return in terms of the satisfaction obtained for the time, energy or money spent. These are all limited in amount and the consumer aims to obtain for them the goods and services which gives him the maximum satisfaction.
