WHAT ARE ECONOMIC PHENOMENA? (WITH EXAMPLES) - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Economic phenomena are defined as phenomena produced by groups of people when they seek to satisfy and improve their material needs.

It is a social activity and, by uniting all these phenomena, the economic system of each society appears.

Within the economic system, sales, purchases, offers and, in general, all the activities that the human being has created to interact in this non-spiritual aspect are carried out.

It must be taken into account that the economy and its phenomena are framed within the so-called social sciences, since they cannot be separated from human action.

Thus, although there are human aspects that are not economic, there are no economic phenomena that are not social.

Laws and economic phenomena

Although there are various theories depending on the economic school that makes the analysis, in general it is considered that economic phenomena respond to the laws that explain all material activity in society and that they would be based on two basic aspects.

The first is that human beings always seek to satisfy their needs. These are not all the same, since the first thing is to get enough to survive, that is, food and shelter. Once this is achieved, the next step of needs is passed and so on.

The second aspect is that the resources are limited and, therefore, capable of having a value that is determined by the law of supply and demand.

If many people want to buy houses and there are very few built, the price will go up, unless there is legislation that prevents it.

Economic and social phenomena

It is not possible to separate the economy from the society. The latter explains many of the phenomena that occur and, at the same time, may be its cause.

An example would be the great value of diamonds: if it weren't for the value that people place on it, its value would not be greater than that of other minerals.

Likewise, we can see this relationship with some foods. The number of cows in India could suggest that there is a large surplus of food.

However, because of their religion they do not consume that meat and there are famines in some layers of the population.

Examples of economic phenomena

There are a great multitude of these phenomena. Among them, unemployment, migration, globalization or scarcity can be highlighted.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate of a country is one of the phenomena that most affect the performance of the economy. Its increase is usually due to other phenomena, such as the crisis or recession and causes a series of consequences that mark the development of the country.

In this way, a high number of unemployed reduces consumption, since there is no money to spend. This decrease in consumption also causes excess workers who manufacture what can no longer be bought.

Likewise, it tends to cause wages to drop, as there are more people desperate to find work.

Migration

The movement of people from one place to another -migration-, as long as it does not occur for reasons of war or ideological persecution, is a purely economic phenomenon.

On the one hand, migrants try to reach a place where they can better meet their needs and, on the other, it causes a series of consequences on the economy of the host country.

Globalization

Globalization is the most important economic phenomenon in recent decades and there is no consensus about the benefits and harms that it can bring. It consists of an almost total opening of the entire planet to trade.

Compared to what happened before, an event in Japan can affect the economy anywhere in the world.

For example, it is enough for the United States Stock Exchange to go down in value so that, due to the connection between companies, all the stock markets do the same the next day.

Shortage

It is another of the phenomena par excellence of the economic fact, since the scarcity of a product increases its value.

Thus, the lack of butter in France is causing a series of economic and social consequences that go beyond the product itself.

In recent times there have been cases of fictitious shortages caused by companies that have preferred not to put their products up for sale to cause their value to increase, as has happened with some agricultural products in the United States.

References

1. Rubén Simoni, Arnold. The order of economic phenomena. (January 9, 2015). Obtained from losandes.com.ar
2. Bittan, Moses. Theory of scarcity: an economic phenomenon with social impact. Obtained from elmundo.com.ve
3. DR Caraveo Valdez. Economic theory. Recovered from fd.uach.mx
4. Joseph, Chris. Five Economic Factors. Retrieved from bizfluent.com
5. Kuepper, Justin. Globalization and Its Impact On Economic Growth. (June 19, 2017). Retrieved from thebalance.com