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They are named economics agents to those actors that intervene in an economy, having a specific role and action in a system of this type, under certain rules. Serán persons o organizaciones que tomarán decisiones en este contexto.
With the definition of these agents, the economic game is synthesized and it is feasible to simplify the processes that take place in this environment., resulting in a simpler analysis and allowing the explanation of its operation.
An economic agent can be considered any natural or legal person who is independently exercising some type of economic activity in the market. Those entities that carry out various economic activities can be included, regardless of their legal personality or mode of financing.
Then it is feasible to understand as economic agent, those who participate in the processing, production and commercialization of goods and services; through agreements, arrangements and contracts agreed between them, thus impacting their activity on the markets and transcending the State economy through the profits or commercial benefits they manage to achieve.
We are all economic agents because all of us in one way or another star in economic activity, consuming goods or services and making payments for them with income that we have received from other types of agents.
By paying for these goods and services, we will be boosting the productivity of other agents.
There are three main economic agents within a closed economy.
The consumers (families), producers (Deal) and the market regulator (condition). All with a differentiated and essential role, establishing a close link between them on a mandatory basis.
The various economic activities will be interrelated and, therefore, will depend on each other.
A family, while consuming, could be its members participating in the productive work of a company, the consuming company also being through its role of buyer of inputs. The government can play a role of consumer and producer at the same time in certain circumstances.
The economic agents will be generating wealth with the potential to benefit all the actors.
When each of these agents is capable of fulfilling their respective roles under the existing relationships between them, it is possible for the economy to function satisfactorily, making the positive and coherent contribution to society that is expected.
If, on the contrary, these agents do not work correctly, and due to their interdependence, its negative influence on other agents could negatively affect the general economy.
Economic agents and their characteristics
The families
Families are seen as the economic units in charge of consumption, established as a number of people who share the coexistence.
In the economic sense and from the perspective considered in this matter, the family can even have a single member or several, regardless of whether they are related.
The family will be the economic agent with a great dedication to consumption, and at the same time will be the owner of the productive resources, providing work.
Characteristic of less developed regions, a family could practice self-consumption. They would be producing themselves what they would later consume.
Families divide their income into paying taxes, savings and consumption.; playing the role of owner of the productive factors. Even though they are quintessential consumers, they will almost always be offering the factors of production in the form of labor.
Families as groups, or individually individuals who participate in the economy of a nation, will be the ones that will have the highest percentage of resources that companies need for their operation, and can be considered as basic units of consumption.
This is the economic agent who, based on a limited budget and factors such as their preferences and tastes, will seek to satisfy their needs through the consumption of services and products.
The companies
They are the agents in charge of producing the goods and services through the production factors provided by the families.
In exchange for these factors of production, they must be paying families in exchange for work, salary; in exchange for capital, dividends and interest; or land rents.
When goods and services are produced, they are offered to families, the state, or other companies for consumption.
Companies can be private, public or voluntary. They are projected looking for the greatest utility and benefit that they can achieve.
They can be categorized as the basic units of production., whose target o función primordial es la fabricación de bienes y servicios que tendrán como objetivo alcanzar el mayor beneficio factible, teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones que tanto tecnológicas como presupuestarias disponen.
In order to carry out this type of activity, it will be essential to have a certain amount of resources and productive factors, which can be purchased or contracted to national economies.
Mainly three productive factors are considered. Capital-physical, where facilities, machinery, etc. are included, and financial capital, consisting of credits and money. The second of these the earth, conforming raw materials and natural resources and finally human work, existing both intellectual and physical work.
The productive resources are called (inputs) - inputs and (products) - products, therefore the services and goods obtained. Companies could be considered as a system that enables the transformation of inputs into products, using specific technologies for this.
Technology can be established as the application or specific use of scientific knowledge, which will give rise to a combination of different inputs or productive factors to achieve a certain production. In each historical scenario it will be feasible to have particular technological alternatives for the manufacture of goods.
The state
Composed of the set of public organizations of a nation. At the same time offering and demanding goods and services at the same time, it collects taxes from companies and families that are used to manage its activity.
They have a varied intervention in the economy; It will offer and demand goods, services and factors of production, at the same time it will collect taxes that it will redistribute to carry out various activities.
Some of its relevant actions will be to provide the country with public goods and services (universities, highways, etc.), subsidizing companies and families with the greatest needs; also managing their organizations.
It will have a role as supplier and demander of production factors in the market.
Finally, it can be stated that the state will regulate economic activity to a large extent, provide a legal framework for agents to act.
It will have part of the productive factors as raw materials, capital and natural resources. It will provide society with sufficient infrastructure, guaranteeing that economic activity can be carried out under adequate conditions.
It will be the one who provides services and goods of a public nature like education, justice or health. It will use fiscal policy to redistribute income, dedicating the taxes collected to minimum wage subsidies, unemployment benefits, etc.
Link between economic agents
The economic agents are related to each other and in a transcendent way through the exchange of goods and services.
In this procedure the economic activities They will be divided into two fundamental types; those of consumption and production activities.
Consumption activities will be carried out by families when they proceed to purchase goods and services.. For this purpose and therefore cannot be used to develop the production of other services or goods, or to be marketed at a higher price. Home furnishings, food, clothing, etc. some examples could be considered.
Productive activities are carried out by the State and companies. They buy goods and services from public or private companies, using them to produce other types of goods or products that could also, in short, be sold.
This is exemplified in a car factory, where the goods could be the motor of the car, the doors, etc., these will be used in the finished product as "intermediate goods", or as products that will be marketed later without suffering variation. , since they were acquired serving as spare parts.
The State and companies may also be acquiring capital goods, products that can be used for the production of other goods and services, without being themselves used in final consumption, nor will they be part of the finished product.
The economy is based on the study of economic agents, on the affirmation that they assume or respect the principle of rationalityThere are a number of defined objectives that decisions will aim at, considering the limits that the lack of the types of resources available will impose.
The needs of the human being who will be trying to satisfy the different economic activities must be seen with finite resources and not in a few cases that are difficult to obtain. This is one of the reasons why Detailed structures of the parties involved in this procedure need to be established. Studying and understanding them will be vital to the success of the economy.
The behavior of these agents will always be an important point of interest in economics, Hence the existing projection in knowing in depth the way in which these agents develop in the environment of the economic life of a region and in the development of the production, distribution and consumption of services and products in circulation.