HCS/552 Health Care Economics
Terms Comparison Paper
Abdel Rahman Shehabeddin
Instructor Nate Garner
Monday, August 28 2011

Terms Comparison Paper
Economics is the study of how people make choices when they want to utilize resources (American Economic Association, 2011). Health care organizations strive to use the same concept of economics when they choose how to allocate resources and plan how to use them because it is essential to their survival. Therefore, health care and economics are connected in the sense of sharing the same terms such as resources, quality, and cost. This paper analyzes how the terms resources, quality, and cost are similar in economics and health care, and how these terms differ in economics and health care. Terms
In economics a resource is defined as a product, asset, or other services with limited availability utilized to generate commodities and services that convene to human requirements and desires. Every economy has, in varying degrees, vast amounts of diverse resources, or factors of production. Factors of production can be classified in many ways. One common classification design distinguishes human resources, natural resources, and manufactured resources (Henry George Institute, 2011). Human resources or labor is the quality and quantity of human effort directed toward producing goods and services ("Human resources," 2006). Natural resources such as land with its innate mineral deposits that is accessible without any human effort or amendments (Henry George Institute, 2011). Manufactured resources or capital is defined as goods made by people and used to produce other goods and services such as machinery, buildings, and equipment (“Manufactured resources,” 2006). Because these types of resources are relatively scarce and limited, economists, decision maker, and health care providers must find a way to allocate resources