What is the root cause of economic problems?

[Satofan44]

Scarcity of what? Some resources are scarce by default and no government can artificially boost their mining and production.

This question does not need to be asked since almost everything is scarce. If we had an oversupply of things, then prices would collapse but instead we have high prices for many important things and even unimportant useless junk like iPhone Max, foldable phones or whatever other things retards buy. Even the whole world is pretty much scarce in everything except in things that are in an oversupply like dirt or some types of basic rocks. There are way too many people on the planet, we would be better off if the population gradually shrank down to 1 billion. There is absolutely no reason for us to be so many.

Aren't unemployment and underemployment basically the same thing? The economy can't create enough jobs and the people, who are unemployed don't have the skills, that are in demand on the job market.

No, those are completely separate concepts and you could find this out by doing a simple search to read more about it. Here is how it is different:

• Unemployment refers to people who do not have a job (are not employed), but they are actively looking for one.
• Underemployment refers to people who do have a job but it is not enough, for example it could be a part-time job. I know this sound strange to many people in many countries, but in other places a lot of people work part time jobs and it is a common thing. Also it can refer to people who are working jobs that are way under their skill level, say an IT expert working in a grocery store as a cashier.

The root cause of all economic problem are incompetent and corrupt governments. Inflation is created by bad fiscal and monetary policies. Unemployment is created by a bad education system and having a bad business environment, where the entrepreneurs are being punished with high taxes, too much bureaucracy and corruption.

No it is not, and I have debunked this false argument already several times here. You should read those posts. Corruption is a bottom-up process and so is incompetent. Most average people are corrupt and incompetent in their jobs, and therefore governments are also going to be like this in most cases. Only once you fix the corruption of the average person could governments have a chance to be not so corrupt on average.

[slapper]

Human wants can  not be part of the economic problem because if the economy is ok and there is a good atmosphere and employment for humans they will work out what they want and if they don't get satisfied that's their problem but the leaders have failed to make life better by providing the necessary things that will be useful to their citizens. If nut greed tell me why someone will decide to make life difficult for his people and expect them not to cry, the politicians should create job opportunities and stop looting the resources of the people then crisis will reduce.

Yes I agree bad leader make the world more worse but without any attention in tolerating corruption, collusion, and nepotism but in these modern world, we know that politics is high cost arena, system creates pressure on politicians to commit fraud. Beside that we must understand that everybody strat line is not in same position, in normal economy, the result is not equivalent and widens even more during a crisis because different opportunity, leverage to choose, to speak and to survived without being pressured. People with connection and enough money easier to survive and left people without leverage choice that morally unfavorable. There was a point where I started to question about the goodness of competitive economy, high cost politic and job market funcion because it is subjective not objective.

Nepotism in particular, it is so pervasive in completely different cultures and regimes and centuries. And it is not that humans are tribally evil by their nature. Proximity-based networks are the rational insurance in the environment where institutional trust is low, and the cost of betrayal is high. You are not promoting your cousin because you are purely selfish but because you simply cannot know a stranger, particularly not in a situation where the system does not provide you any security in case they prove to be unreliable. The broken institutional trust is manifested in the nepotism. To consider it as a cause is to have the causality the wrong way up.

Meritocracy was constructed on assumptions that never, in fact, were tested at scale. That access to education is comparable. That networks do not make a difference more than credentials do. That the evaluator is not introducing bias into the room. All these were not empirically obtained. They were asserted. And we constructed huge social legitimacy upon a claim and then became puzzled when the outputs continued to be disproportionate.

The individuals who suffer the most by the system are also the ones who lack time and resources to counter it. Those who have sufficient leverage to redesign it have little incentive to.
And I believe that is where your question on the goodness of competitive economy takes me. Not "is it bad". But good to whom, on what conditions, and who made those conditions and why? Answer those and the subjectivity you're pointing at becomes very, very clear.

[SquallLeonhart]

You will blame the government when there is a high rate of unemployment in the country or state because i believe there is no way the government can get everyone employed. When things are scars in the country the government is responsible for it not that they can't make provisions for those things, inflation is also cause by government because they can make because at first things are not supposed to be too expensive for people to get, what ever we face in a country is cause by our leaders.

It is not really that complicated, a country could still get MORE tax, while making tax cuts. How? Simple, instead of taxing a company, they tax the employee. So if let's say that a company that has 1000 workers, are paying 1 million dollar in tax, and those 1000 employees are paying also another 1 million in tax, that means from that company, the government makes 2 million total.

Offer the company 80% tax cut, if they hire another 1000 people, that means, with 2000 people hired, they would have 2 million dollars paid by the people, because they had 1000 workers paying 1 million, now they have 2000 so it would be 2 million, but on top of that, company grew, so when they had 1000 workers they paid 1 million in taxes, but with 80% tax cut, they are now paying 200k, with new workers, hopefully they are making more money, they should, but maybe they are not, in any case, that would be 200k+ more on top of that.

See, the government managed to convince a company to hire people, and still made more in tax, while dropping unemployment at the same time.

[DYOR+BTC]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

You will blame the government when there is a high rate of unemployment in the country or state because i believe there is no way the government can get everyone employed. When things are scars in the country the government is responsible for it not that they can't make provisions for those things, inflation is also cause by government because they can make because at first things are not supposed to be too expensive for people to get, what ever we face in a country is cause by our leaders.

Be it good or bad results, all must be channeled to the government.  Just as it is the constitutional rights of citizens to obey the laws and other of the nation so also it is the duty of the government to create job opportunities and reduce unemployment rates in the country and also contribute to the regulation of inflation.
When a country's inflation rate is high, it is the duty of the government to control and bring it to normal and not put the blame on anybody that is why when any country's government fails, everything fails as well. A perfect example of a country experiencing such is Nigeria, all sector have been destroyed and will remain so until there is change in the government.

[DYOR+BTC]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

You will blame the government when there is a high rate of unemployment in the country or state because i believe there is no way the government can get everyone employed. When things are scars in the country the government is responsible for it not that they can't make provisions for those things, inflation is also cause by government because they can make because at first things are not supposed to be too expensive for people to get, what ever we face in a country is cause by our leaders.

Be it good or bad results, all must be channeled to the government.  Just as it is the constitutional rights of citizens to obey the laws and other of the nation so also it is the duty of the government to create job opportunities and reduce unemployment rates in the country and also contribute to the regulation of inflation.
When a country's inflation rate is high, it is the duty of the government to control and bring it to normal and not put the blame on anybody that is why when any country's government fails, everything fails as well. A perfect example of a country experiencing such is Nigeria, all sector have been destroyed and will remain so until there is change in the government

[Cleanslate_]

Bad government, when government fails in his duties towards it's citizens and the country's resources is not properly utilized for the benefit of its citizens.

The government is suppose to put the welfare of her citizens first before any other things so that the economy can flourish properly to be able to provide needed resources with good jobs and employments and other basic necessities to it's citizens.

[STT]

Strike off the first 3 as acceptable errors.  Retired people are unemployed for example and thats ok, people are allowed to rest and could even be for the positive also.


(D) Underemployment

Thats the one that matters most.   Why is because it represents inefficiency and that is always problem number one for an active market economy to fix.  The job of every company and the market entire is to improve efficiency, we are most familiar with that answer by the process of mass production.    
   We all get amazing gadgets possible with efficient process mostly via industrial development.   People are the most powerful tool in an economy, bigger then AI etc. and its essential to use the best resources to the best purpose possible.
  People not being used would be a failure to maximize your resources, it would underline greater problems most likely.

[Abdulzuruku01]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

All this problems can be the cause of economic problems depend on the nation, but generally speaking the option B scarcity, is the most problem that can cause economic problems in the country. Base on my own view, economically most growing countries are the nations that are producing their own resources and import less. But honestly a country can not grow economically if they lack key things like natural resources, good and quality education, health, food security, technology advancement, and other productivities and also not much depend on other countries for those major things.

[Davidvictorson]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

Not all of these. They are just the resultant effects of the economic problems or outcomes. The root cause is not whether a country has natural resources or not. It is leadership. A great writer wrote that, everything rises and falls on leadership. Every great country today with strong economy has had great leaders who steered them in that dire direction while the countries struggling with underemployment, inflation, scarce and the others have had bad leaders.

[Rgram]

Not all of these. They are just the resultant effects of the economic problems or outcomes. The root cause is not whether a country has natural resources or not. It is leadership. A great writer wrote that, everything rises and falls on leadership. Every great country today with strong economy has had great leaders who steered them in that dire direction while the countries struggling with underemployment, inflation, scarce and the others have had bad leaders.

Indeed, leadership plays a vital role in the development of a state. What is happening in the Saudis and Dubai has highlighted much of it.

Despite being a resource rich state, region or country, if these resources aren’t utilized at its best, you’ll be sacked sure their would be lots of problems.

One point I find very important that wasn’t mentioned is, the inability of a state to produce the majority of what they need. Having to depend too much on imported goods or prioritizing on these imported goods over locally available ones. These can lead to some real trouble.

[abhiseshakana]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

Not all of these. They are just the resultant effects of the economic problems or outcomes. The root cause is not whether a country has natural resources or not. It is leadership. A great writer wrote that, everything rises and falls on leadership. Every great country today with strong economy has had great leaders who steered them in that dire direction while the countries struggling with underemployment, inflation, scarce and the others have had bad leaders.

If must choose from four options, the most dominant and can be called the root is scarcity, why it is fundamental because human need is almost unlimited, when resources can not fulfill human needs, unbalance emerged which caused other problem. Scarcity is basic condition which cause other three mentioned problem. unemplyment, underemployment and inflation are only symptom. Unemplyment are scarcity of job where skill can not meet demand. Inflation happen when demand high and supply limited/disturbed, it is manifestation of scarcity in price, the last underemployment happen because there are scarcity of opportunity which can be caused by low productivity.

[puloweh555]

Indeed, leadership plays a vital role in the development of a state. What is happening in the Saudis and Dubai has highlighted much of it.

Despite being a resource rich state, region or country, if these resources aren’t utilized at its best, you’ll be sacked sure their would be lots of problems.

One point I find very important that wasn’t mentioned is, the inability of a state to produce the majority of what they need. Having to depend too much on imported goods or prioritizing on these imported goods over locally available ones. These can lead to some real trouble.

Absolutely true. Whether a country's economy is strong or not depends on its leaders. For example as you mentioned, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are doing well economically because their leaders are skilled at managing their natural resources. However, there are also countries with abundant natural resources but poor economies and that's because of their leaders. There are also countries without oil, mining or agricultural land and even drinking water that must be purchased from neighboring countries, yet their economies are doing well. One such country is Singapore.

So from many cases of a country, we can conclude that the primary factor for a country to achieve economic success is just and trustworthy leadership. We can see the example of Singapore which lacks natural resources, but uses that as an excuse to develop the best human resources. Sometimes I'm ashamed of my own country Indonesia, which has abundant natural resources but has poor leadership resulting in little benefit for its people benefiting only a select few.

[BALIK]

One point I find very important that wasn’t mentioned is, the inability of a state to produce the majority of what they need. Having to depend too much on imported goods or prioritizing on these imported goods over locally available ones. These can lead to some real trouble.

This is no secret, and every government and politician knows it. But you need to know that self-sufficiency is not simple, and it's easier said than done. Even leading powers like the US and European countries are importing a significant amount of goods from various other countries. They cannot be self-sufficient, let alone countries with weaker economic resources.

To achieve that, we need technology, raw materials, labor, and infrastructure...all of which require enormou capital investment. Not every country has the necessary resource.

[Joeboy]

The government are the sole problem we are having today, bribery and corruption are mostly killing us today and the government are not doing the right thing they should be doing for her citizens. Today, the government only fight for her people and to those who are related to them and they don't care about others who are not related to them, the worst thing is that, if you are not related to them they wouldn't show regards if you are having any problems at hands, they only care for themselves. Believe me or not today that if the government have decided to take action today in everything they are doing you would see that there are people who would benefit from them than only caring about their relatives alone. In all, the government are not fair in everything they are doing today.

Most times we keep blaming the government about being the sole contributor of most economic problems, but most time we don't take a break to know the actual ones that the blames should fall on... Quite alright the government aren't doing their jobs, they generate taxes but still are unable to utilize it to provide better amenities for its citizens and so the blames mostly fall to them... But we have to also know that those leaders didn't jump and assume that role, it was through the approval or let me say the votes of the citizens that the leaders assumed their roles.... Most cases I blame the citizens as being the cause of their own problems coz when it's time to receive campaign incentives they happily do so without even checking through the track record of the supposed person that is campaigning and eventually if that leader doesn't perform well, those same ingrates will be the ones complaining the most....

Well most folks would say that these leaders sometimes assume their roles through illegal means( elections riggings blah blah blah)...But yet again am very confident that no leader can win an election solely through rigging, at least he would still have to have the support of some electorates...

[Serge3]

I would say B since scarcity is the root of every economic problem. We have unlimited wants but limited resources. That tension forces us to make choices, and those choices create trade-offs. Every economic issue, from unemployment to inflation, traces back to this basic reality.

Probably why bitcoin scarcity is such a golden property.

This can also go in a conceptual level, scarce in talents, scarce in unique people qualities, scarce in culture, not only commodities are included in scarcity but also these types of human factors can contribute the cause of economic problems.

[AgriTrack]

Indeed, corruption is the root, poison, or biggest enemy and the highest percentage that systematically destroys the economic foundation of a country. This is the cause of economic problems for the country that sometimes does not progress or even becomes backward. And what you need to know from all of that is the government system or laws of a country that are the cause of the damage to this system that is not firm in eradicating the biggest problem such as corruption in the country. And usually, countries that succeed in suppressing corruption usually not only tighten the law, but also improve the system as a whole starting from bureaucratic reform, digitalization of services, to strengthening independent institutions.

corruption is main cause of economic problem. But here I want to highlight one more and major problem of our economy and that is nepotism.Nepotism is determined that destroy the economy slowly and gradually. Basically certain class divide resources,higher jobs and much more among their friends or relatives then definitely merit is ignore. By this talented people left behind. Nepotism promote inequality, usually these people are not highly qualified , so sometime they are unable to take right decisions on right time that may become the cause of wastage of resources or money. When certain class enjoy luxurious life style, business class travelling facilities,tours admissions in higher institutions and much more, then rest of the people suffer a lot. This unfair system creates frustration and insecurities among the youngsters but among the investors also To strengthen the economy, there is need to build fair system. Give chance to educated people promote merits, but it's not as simple as we think because it requires strong policies or strong Justice system

[icebar]

One point I find very important that wasn’t mentioned is, the inability of a state to produce the majority of what they need. Having to depend too much on imported goods or prioritizing on these imported goods over locally available ones. These can lead to some real trouble.

This is no secret, and every government and politician knows it. But you need to know that self-sufficiency is not simple, and it's easier said than done. Even leading powers like the US and European countries are importing a significant amount of goods from various other countries. They cannot be self-sufficient, let alone countries with weaker economic resources.

To achieve that, we need technology, raw materials, labor, and infrastructure...all of which require enormou capital investment. Not every country has the necessary resource.

You gave examples of powerful countries like the United States and European countries. They are economically advanced also education and technologically advanced than other countries in the world. They use their money, intelligence and people to improve in all these things. They do not waste time on making food, clothes or other things that cannot be used to control world politics and economy. They use low-income countries for all these. They try to make nuclear bombs, they spend time on how to make them stronger fighter aircraft than other countries. That is why the entire world economy is still under the control of America.

[Royal Cap]

corruption is main cause of economic problem. But here I want to highlight one more and major problem of our economy and that is nepotism.Nepotism is determined that destroy the economy slowly and gradually. Basically certain class divide resources,higher jobs and much more among their friends or relatives then definitely merit is ignore. By this talented people left behind. Nepotism promote inequality, usually these people are not highly qualified , so sometime they are unable to take right decisions on right time that may become the cause of wastage of resources or money. When certain class enjoy luxurious life style, business class travelling facilities,tours admissions in higher institutions and much more, then rest of the people suffer a lot. This unfair system creates frustration and insecurities among the youngsters but among the investors also To strengthen the economy, there is need to build fair system. Give chance to educated people promote merits, but it's not as simple as we think because it requires strong policies or strong Justice system

However, nepotism is not always bad, many times people trust someone they know and give them a chance. In this way work progresses faster, because there is already a trust. The problem is when this thing becomes excessive and qualified people are not given a chance at all, In my opinion it may be difficult to completely stop it in reality, but a balance is necessary. That means there will be trust, and again, there will be value in qualifications. If the two can be kept together, then the system can be at least a little fair.

[Obulis]

What is the root cause of economic problems?
Options:
(A) Unemployment
(B) Scarcity
(C) Inflation
(D) Underemployment

Rotten systems is the major root cause of unemployment, scarcity, inflation and underemployment.
When the government of a country is failing in almost every thing, how do you expect there to be employment and why won't people be underemployed?
A corrupt system will take everything for business, the people heading will commercialize lifes and property, the security of the nation will be made an economic commodity by politicians organizing the insecurities just to gain power, an act of greediness all the time. When there is no atom of selflessness by the politicians of any nation, the same projects will awarded a number of times yet it won't be accomplished, then backwardness becomes the order like all the listed pains by the op.

Aside corruption, lack of intelligence by the government of any nation will cause unemployment, scarcity, inflation and underemployment.

[Rubuchi]

Not all of these. They are just the resultant effects of the economic problems or outcomes. The root cause is not whether a country has natural resources or not. It is leadership. A great writer wrote that, everything rises and falls on leadership. Every great country today with strong economy has had great leaders who steered them in that dire direction while the countries struggling with underemployment, inflation, scarce and the others have had bad leaders.

you are right with this you just said now. Leadership is the root cause of bad government and economy instability. A country with proactive leadership will build working strategies and structures to address its own internal challenges being it economically, socially or security wise. They won’t stay out there to criticize and complain about the foreign countries which they have no control.