As soon as a resource is limited in quantity it becomes an economic resource. If there is no limit on the quantity of a resource then it is not considered to be an economic good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So is a free lunch free?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In economics, scarce resources have been used to provide that lunch, the raw ingredients that went into it, the kitchen to prepare it in, the labour to prepare it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these will have had alternative uses. In simplistic terms they could have been used to make someone else’s lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lunch is therefore not free. It may be provided at zero price or cost to you, but its not free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Terms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n An Old Lady living in the Scottish Highlands is connected to mains water for the first time in her life. All her water needs have been provided by a local spring.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A month later she receives her first bill from the water company. Outraged she sends them a letter that she is not paying the bill. She explains that water is a free gift of nature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How would you reply?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is an long time question given to Economics students to see if they understand the difference between an “economic good” and a “free good”. As previously discussed in the post The Economic Problem, economics is concerned with choice because our wants are unlimited and our resources are limited. As soon as a resource is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,35,25,16,34,28,18,26,29],"tags":[10,36,37,33,38,32],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choice","category-economic-good","category-economic-problem","category-economics","category-free-good","category-limited-resources","category-micro","category-scarcity","category-unlimited-wants","tag-choice","tag-economic-problem-free-goods","tag-economics-goods","tag-limited-resources","tag-scarce-resources","tag-unlimited-wants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Is](\"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sstoyanov-sandwich-5269480_1280-1024x536.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEconomic good<\/td> A good that uses scarce resources in its production and therefore has an opportunity cost.<\/td><\/tr> Free good<\/td> A good that does NOT use scarce resources in its production and therefore has NO opportunity cost.<\/td><\/tr> The economic problem<\/td> There are unlimited wants and limited resources causing scarcity. The problem is therefore how to allocate scarce resources among alternative uses.<\/td><\/tr> Scarcity<\/td> Limited or finite resources, insufficient to meet wants. <\/td><\/tr> Choice<\/td> Choosing between alternatives when making a decision. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"Stream\"](\"https:\/\/thesilenteconomist.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/hunt-er-stream-5627504_640.jpg\")