Chapter 1: Limits, Alternatives, and Choices Economics The social science concerned with how individuals, institutions, and society make optimal (best) choices under conditions of scarcity. Productive Resources Help us produce goods and services that satisfy many of our economic wants The Economic Perspective Economic way of thinking Scarcity and Choice Scarcity restricts options and demands choices; we must decide what we will have and what we must sacrifice Opportunity Costs To obtain more of one thing, society forgoes the opportunity of getting the next best thing; because society could have used these resources to produce something else, it sacrifices other goods and services. Purposeful Behavior Human behavior reflects ?rational self-interest?