Wants, and the Goods and Services That Satisfy Them
Learn what economic wants are and how goods (things you can touch) and services (things people do) satisfy them.
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~7 min
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What this means
Every day you want things. You might want a snack. You might want your hair cut. You might want a new soccer ball, or you might want someone to fix your bike. All of those are wants.
There are two ways to satisfy a want. Sometimes you need an object. An object you can hold, eat, wear, or play with is called a good. An apple, a jacket, a pencil, and a bicycle are all goods.
Other times you do not need an object at all. You need somebody to do something for you. When a person does something for you, that is a service. A haircut is a service. A bus ride is a service. A doctor checking your ear is a service.
So when you say "I want something," the next question is always: do I want a thing, or do I want someone to do something? That answer tells you whether you need a good or a service.
Why it matters
Knowing the difference helps you understand where everything around you comes from. Almost everything in your day is either a good someone made or a service someone did. Your breakfast is a good. Your ride to school is a service. Your shoes are a good. Your lesson today is a service.
It also helps you say what you really want. "I want to be warm" is a want. You could satisfy it with a good, like a coat, or with a service, like someone fixing the heater. Once you know what you want, you can figure out what would actually solve it.
Real-world example
Think about a trip to the grocery store. The milk, bread, and bananas in the cart are goods. But the person at the checkout who scans everything is giving your family a service. So is the person who drives the delivery truck that brought the bananas to the store. One trip, and you used both.
Try it
- On a sheet of paper, make two columns. Label the left one "Goods" and the right one "Services."
- Your teacher will read a want out loud. For example: "I am hungry." "My hair is too long." "My tooth hurts." "My feet are cold." "I want to learn to swim." "I want to hear a story."
- For each want, write down one thing that would satisfy it. Then decide: is it a good or a service? Write it in the correct column.
- Draw a line from each want to the good or service you matched with it.
- Share one match with a partner. Explain how you knew it was a good or a service.
- Challenge round: pick one want and think of BOTH a good and a service that could satisfy it. For "my feet are cold," a good is warm socks; a service is someone turning on the heat.
Teacher note
The test students should say out loud is: "Can I hold it?" If yes, it is a good. If it is something a person does, it is a service. The most common mix-up is confusing the good with the person who provides it. A pizza is a good, but the delivery driver provides a service, and the cook provides a service too. Another frequent error is calling a haircut a good because you can see the hair. Redirect them to the action: the barber did something, so it is a service. A student has it when they can invent a new want on their own and correctly match both a good and a service to it.
Check yourself
Ravi says, 'I want my dog to look nicer.' A dog groomer washes and brushes the dog. What did Ravi get?
Which of these is a GOOD?
What is an economic want?
Every want is satisfied by either a good, which is a thing you can touch, or a service, which is something a person does for you.