CONTENT STATEMENT
- The availability of productive resources (i.e., entrepreneurship, human resources, capital goods and natural resources) promotes specialization that could lead to trade.
CONTENT ELABORATION
The availability of productive resources influences the production of goods and services in regions of the Western Hemisphere.
Students should understand that specialization, the concentration of production on fewer kinds of goods and services than are consumed, develops as a result of people using the productive resources available. Examples of specialization include:
- fishing communities;
- tourist destinations; and
- manufacturing.
Trade can occur when individuals, regions, and countries specialize in what they produce at the lowest opportunity cost. This causes both production and consumption to increase.
Human resources consist of the talents and skills of entrepreneurs and skilled laborers that contribute to the production of goods and services.
Capital goods consist of human-made materials needed to produce goods include:
- buildings;
- machinery;
- equipment; and
- tools.
Natural resources are productive resources supplied by nature. Natural resources include:
- ores;
- trees; and
- arable land.
EXPECTATIONS FOR LEARNING
Explain how the availability of productive resources in a specific region promotes specialization and can result in trade.