Trade-offs: high street taste on a jandals budget
Author:
Auckland Council Chief Economist, Shane MartinSource:
Auckland Council Chief EconomistPublication date:
2020Topics:
PeopleExtract:
- Economics is, among other things, the study of how to make people and society as well-off as possible given the limited resources available.
- Human behaviour demonstrates that generally we want the best of everything and would prefer not to pay for it.
- But because individuals’ resources (finances, time, clean water and so on) are limited, we have to make trade-offs.
- Trade-offs are also real for government, like Auckland Council, where property rates and user charges cannot feasibly be at a level where everyone gets everything they’d like.
- We are left to trade off the resources we have for the best societal outcomes we can achieve. This requires us to use the best tools available to make economically-sound decisions.
October 2020