Even though many of us view the world as one of abundance and plenty, the world’s resources are scarce. All of the products we use have a natural resource base. Minerals, forest products, water, and soil are just a few of the natural resources humans use to produce energy and make things people use.

This scarcity exists because resources are not available in the same quantities at all times. Some natural resources such as trees can be reproduced within a few years or decades. These are renewable resources. Oil, minerals, and soil take hundreds, thousands and even millions of years to be made. These are called non-renewable resources.

It is very important that we use renewable and non-renewable resources wisely. If resources are used and thrown away, eventually the resources become scarce. The use of these resources is one of the higher priority issues for economic activity. Everything we make or produce for our consumption or use requires resources.

The Compendium tells us: “one of the higher priority issues in economics is the utilisation of resources, that is, of all those goods and services to which economic subjects – producers and consumer in the private and public spheres – attribute value because of their inherent usefulness in the areas of production and consumption.”

Since resources are scarce and not infinite, the way we use these resources is critical particularly because we are obligated to preserve resources for future generations. This means “that each individual economic subject, as well as each individual society, must necessarily come up with a plan for their utilisation in the most rational way possible, following the logic dictated by the principle of economising.” This is a principle role of economic activities and the institutions set up to regulate and engage in these economic activities.

“Both the effective solution of the more general, and fundamental, economic problem of limited means with respect to individual and social – private and public – need, and the overall structural and functional efficiency of the entire economic system depend on this.  This efficiency directly involves the responsibility and capacity of the various agents concerned, such as the market, the State and intermediate social bodies.”

“The understanding that we must make the best use of scarce resources should be a guiding principle in economic decision- making for companies, governments and other bodies. This means decision-makers must constantly ask themselves ‘will this decision be in the best interest of the community now and in the future?’  ‘Do our decisions allow everyone equal access to the resources to enable them to earn a living, produce what they need and want for themselves, or able to enjoy their lives?’” 

So our economic institutions must be at the service of man enabling the human person to develop and experience a high quality of life.

Next week we look at the role of the free market.

Interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church? Please contact the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, Archbishop’s House – 622-6680.