Humans have many wants. For individual survival, food, water, shelter, air and other resources are necessary. We must act to produce those resources so that they can be consumed. Water for consumption is produced by being found in nature and consumed at source or stored in a vessel for later consumption. This is an action. An apple must be plucked from a tree. A cave which a person might find, could be shelter for a person at the edge of survival. If it is in an inconvenient location, the person must move to it in order to benefit from its service. Given sufficient resources, a more sophisticated shelter such as a mansion could be produced at a better location. A natural resource such as a cave may not be produced, but availing of the shelter that it provides, requires purposeful action.

Beyond subsistence survival, Man has many other Wants. He wants intellectual stimulation, to experience love, to travel, to read, see the stars, play games. There is no end to the Wants of Man. As each Want is satisfied, another Want will rise to the top of the list. Man satisfies his wants through the consumption of his own resources or other goods and services. These resources, goods and services must be produced. If a man is alone and has no-one else to cooperate with, he must produce everything he needs to satisfy his wants through his own production. In our modern world, this is not the norm and the vast majority of goods and services are produced by others and are normally offered in exchange for other goods or services.

With a very limited number of exceptions, every good is scarce. Only air is super-abundant. Air is available to us at all times and in almost all places on the surface of this planet. Because Air is superabundant, it is free. The fraction needed at any moment to sustain life can be consumed by anyone at that moment and at any other moment. Air does not normally require production, purification or exchange to satisfy an individual’s need for it. It can be purified, heated and cooled as needed, but this air is not super abundant and needs to be produced by purposeful action.

Potable water is not super abundant. Fresh water is abundant in rivers and lakes or occasionally when it rains. But otherwise it must be transported from where it is abundant to the place where it is to be consumed. Water must therefore be produced by purposeful action, as must food, medicine, clothing and every other material good.

Other non-material Wants also require purposeful action. The desire to observe the natural beauty of the environment requires conscious decision making and an allocation of time for the activity. The desire to be entertained by a TV show requires that time and equipment is allocated to satisfy the Want.