It’s almost impossible to equalize the subjective differences between individual desires, but each individual, in his choice, compares things with reference to their intrinsic income-value to himself; he does not judge them merely by their physical or by their pecuniary measurements. However, when in moralizing strain, we say that the source of happiness is within oneself, we speak within limits. For one to have a peace of mind, they must have their necessities or basic needs met, i.e. food, housing, clothing, etc.
Henceforth, it’s not enough that we should have a supply of goods at a given time; we need an ‘income stream’. Our desires are nearly all recurrent. Hunger, though fully satisfied, returns again. New clothing quickly gets worn out. We weather one storm only to feel an equal need to shelter from the next. To meet this series of desires and wants we require a pretty regular flow of goods and services.
We may liken man’s life to a journey in which supplies of food and of other goods are got at the daily stations. If anyone of these supplies fails, the traveler suffers the pangs of hunger, and if two or three supplies are at one point, they do not serve his needs so well as if distributed along the way.
This almost unbroken inflow of certain kinds of goods is a necessity of existence. The savage dimly understands this need. Even the birds and beasts adjust their lives to it by toil and by travel. Migrations from regions of drought to those of plenty are attempts of the bird to secure income. The ant, the bee, and the squirrel anticipate and work to fill their storehouses against the days of need.
Therefore, we have to take thought to provide the much more complex series of goods upon which our desires are directed. – Frank Fetter, Economic Principles.
Thanks for reading, until next time…
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