Characteristics of Human Wants

As discussed earlier, human wants are desires backed by some purchasing power. Now, these human wants have many characteristics of their own, and different levels of satisfaction capacity. 

Let us look at some of these characteristics of human wants.

Wants are Unlimited in Number
Just like desires, wants are also unlimited. If you satisfy one want, another want arises, and it is an endless process. But your resources are limited, and so, you can not satisfy all your wants. Ultimately, you will satisfy some most urgent wants and postpone the others for later periods.

Some Wants are Recurring in Nature
Many wants are of recurring nature. They need to be satisfied again and again at intervals. For example, hunger needs to be satisfied 3 or 4 times in a day. Maintaining a good look of your face and head requires periodic haircuts, shaving, applying lotions, creams, and face powders. All these are examples of recurring wants.

Wants are Satiable
We know that we can satisfy most of the wants to their utmost satiety at any given point in time. We satisfy every single want to its full extent. We are satisfying hunger, for example, by consuming a plate of meal or two, or at most by eating three plates. Likewise, we satisfy thirst by drinking one or two to three glasses of water for that particular occasion. 

So, wants get satisfied to their full extent at any given point in time.

Wants are sometimes Free Wants (Economic and Non-economic Wants)
Some of the wants get satisfied without having to pay anything in return. For example, air, water, sunlight, and nature's beauty are all free wants. We need not pay anything to satisfy these wants. 

But, with time, they may become non-free items: 

We pay for bottled water, oxygen cylinders, and the like. But, basically, some of these wants are free and known as non-economic wants; while other wants (paid wants) are classified as economic wants.

Present Wants have an edge over Future Wants
Most of us give more weight to satisfying our most recent and present wants, and postpone other future wants due to the reason of limited resources available to us in satisfying them. So we give more importance to our present wants.

Wants Change according to Place and Time, and from person to person
Wants depend on your place, tastes and likings, and on time also. For example, people living on land can eat rice and wheat meals while people surviving in forests or oceans may have access to animal food only. Further, different people have different wants in different environments. They depend upon culture, civilisation, time, and age. Culture and civilisations determine your food habits. Young people can eat all items, whereas older ones can digest only soft foods.

Wants change with Economic and Technological Development
Advances in the economy and technology greatly affect our wants. Previously, we wanted a radio or a telephone set. Now most of us, if not all of us, want to possess a TV set or a mobile phone as a basic requirement. This is due to progress in the economy and technology.

Thus, we can see that wants differ in characteristics and have varying levels of satisfaction according to circumstances and environmental factors.

Human Wants: How they Differ from Desires, and Get Satisfied?

Here, I am giving some basic knowledge and facts about desires and wants and their satisfaction. To understand Human Wants in Economics and their characteristics, we should first know the difference between wants and desires and be able to distinguish each from the other.

What is Desire

All human beings have desires. They are like natural instincts or longings. We desire to be rich, to be healthy, to be happy, and to reach a high status and position in society. We like to live in a posh bungalow, own a car, dine in 5-star hotels, wear stylish apparel, have a huge bank balance, and travel by air, and so on; it is an endless list. These are all desires and can be had by anyone. Desires and dreams are fantastic things. They can be had at any odd occasion also because they need no price to be paid for having them.

Human Wants

Now, coming to wants. In economics, human wants are desires that are backed by purchasing power. You cannot fulfill all of your desires at any time. You need money or purchasing power to satisfy them. A desire becomes a want when you think of achieving it and try to satisfy it with your purchasing power. You will try to earn income or accumulate wealth in order to satisfy them.

Difference between Wants and Desires

• Desires are natural instincts which start even from birth. Wants are developed from these natural desires, while man grows along with his earning capacity and purchasing power.
• Desires do not require purchasing power for their existence. But wants require to be backed by some purchasing power.
• Desires are infinite in number. They keep on growing always. Wants are also innumerable, but they often develop with your growing capacity and environmental conditions.
• Most of the Desires are left unsatisfied. But, in the case of Wants, most of them get satisfied during your lifetime. 

How are wants satisfied? 

Wants are satisfied by way of acquiring and strengthening your purchasing power. You earn income and accumulate purchasing power to satisfy all your wants. But simple money power is not sufficient in satisfying your wants. 

Other conditions determine the satisfaction levels.

• Wants get satisfied in two different ways. They are satisfied through consumption of goods or by utilising the services of different service providers.
• Some wants are free and do not need purchasing power, like water and air.
• Purchasing a house, car, clothes, food, etc., are examples of some wants satisfied with goods. 
• But these goods alone can not satisfy your wants. You will further require the services of a doctor, a hair cutter, a washerman, a housemaid, and other providers to satisfy some of the wants.
• Again, wants are satisfied with the backup of resources. So, you can satisfy wants as long as the resources are there, not after that.
• Some wants are satisfied with a single consumption, whereas many other wants require recurring and regular consumption, such as eating food, wearing clothes, shaving, haircuts, and others.