Thus, educators must continually assess the economics curriculum in terms of the current status of the academic discipline in order to provide students with the latest and soundest view of economic life in the United States and the world. Economic literacy involves knowing and applying fundamental economic ideas to make rational decisions about the use of limited resources. The general themes of economics are presented below in a very introductory manner. Scarcity requires the making of choices between alternate uses of productive resources. When making choices, it is important to consider all alternative uses of the resources.
Human resources are all the workers and their abilities.
Efficient use requires workers to specialize in what they do best. Entrepreneurs, people who take risks associated with starting a new business or producing a new product or service, are an important type of human resource. Natural resources are all the basic gifts of nature whether above, on, or below the surface of the earth. They are either renewable, such as trees, or nonrenewable, like petroleum. Capital resources are the resources that have been created by human effort and savings, to be used to produce products or services.