elements of economics

Book cover
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III WANTS AND THEIR SATISFACTION Elementary Wants.—The most elementary wants for every one of us are food, drink, clothing, and shelter. Man shares these wants, except clothing, with the animals. Primitive men were satisfied with the simplest things. With an increase in civilization the elementary wants became refined. Food and drink must be clean and attractively served. Clothing and shelter must be pleasing to the eye. Cultural Wants.—Every advance in civilization has brought new wants. An ability to read develops into a desire to read and appreciate the best literature, not only in one language but in several. A love of music, once satisfied by the beating of tom-toms or a jazz band, becomes a love for symphony concerts, or other forms of music which are really music to a cultured taste. A multitude of wants arise, such as travel, study, art, and social service. Fortunately these wants can in many cases be supplied even to those whose wealth is very limited, and culture does not always vary directly with a person's increase in wealth. It is a well-known fact that in the great opera-houses, the poor man in the gallery often more keenly enjoys the performance of a grand opera than does the occupant of an orchestra seat. The want of religious consolation, present in an elementary way in a savage, becomes to many persons of refinement, a most importantwant, and for its satisfaction vast sums of money are expended. As old wants are satisfied, new ones appear. Were this not the case, life would hardly be worth the living. We no sooner, for example, learn the use of a rowboat, than we want a sailboat, then a motor-boat. Seeing others receiving pleasure incites us to desire to imitate them. It was a brave man who ate the first raw oyster, but he gave indications of en...
add to favoritesadd

Users who have this book

Users who want this book

What readers are saying

What do you think? Write your own comment on this book!

write a comment

What do you think? Write your own comment on this book

Info about the book

Series:

Unknown

ASIN:

B008747O4Q

Rating:

4/5 (2)

Your rating:

0/5

Languge:

English

Genre

Do you want to exchange books? It’s EASY!

Get registered and find other users who want to give their favourite books to good hands!