The Economic Problem
Nature and method
Introduction
The economic problem exists in all societies or countries. It is the problem of allocating the
limited factors of production or economic resources (Labour, Capital, Natural resources and
entrepreneur) to gain maximum output. This problem arises because humans have unlimited
wants but limited resources to attain those wants. In this report we’ll be relating the economic
problem to Syria, a country that has its economy affected by civil war. We’ll be discussing
how the war has affected the economy of the country by relating it to some concepts of the
economic problem which are scarcity, efficiency, opportunity cost, economic growth and
production possibilities frontier. According to Jones (2016), there would be a loss of
approximately £1 trillion dollars in the country’s economy if the war continues till 2020.
Scarcity
Agriculture is one of the key parts of the Syrian economy. Even after six years of the Syrian
crisis it still accounts for 26% of the GDP that serve as a safety net for the 6.7 million Syrians
(fao.org, 2017). Even though this is the case the country is suffering from food scarcity which
means that the available amount of food is limited and cannot satisfy the daily needs for food
of the whole Syrian population. The civil war had hit hard on the agricultural industry by
destroying assets and infrastructure within the agricultural sector. (fao.org, 2017). This led to
a serious drop in food production, the lowest recorded amount (fao.org, 2017). Due to this,
