Allocating Goods and Services

How do we allocate goods and services? First come, first served First come, first served method does a good job at distributing cheap things. People will stand in a lines to get the cheap item. Can you remember your parents standing in line because something was on sale.

First come, first served  The problem with first come, first served is that everyone will not get the item. Standing in line is not fun and everyone doesn’t have time to go stand in the line for the cheap item.

Lottery Everyone puts their name in a container. Someone draws a name out of the container. The person whose name was drawn out of the container wins.

Lottery  Lottery will not get the item to the people who needs it most. Lottery will also not get everyone an item that wants it. With the lottery though, you do have a chance to get the item.

Force  Force is when you make someone do something. Force is not a good way to get an item. Can you think of what force is like? Bullying….  We shouldn’t use force to get an item.

Personal Attributes  Personal attributes are allocation of resources according to age, beauty, intelligence, class, race, or gender. Would it be fair to get an item just because you were a girl? Why is this not fair?

Competitions  A competition is when you have to win a contest in order to get an item. For example one could write an essay to win or one could run a race to win. What is wrong with this way? Does everyone have a fair chance at winning?

Money  Money is another way to allocate resources. The price of the item determines if you are able to get it. You have to have the money to trade or exchange it for the item. What is the benefit for using money? What is a problem that you could have?