Examples of First Necessity Goods

On economy, is named essential goods or essential goods to those products and services that are essential for the survival of people or for the minimum performance of the productive activity, for which their demand it does not decrease even in times of crisis. For example: electricity, meat, clothing.

First need goods are a type of normal goods (that is, they comply with the normal law of demand), that is, goods whose demand increases as the income of the consumer also increases. consumer, although in this case it increases in a way that is not proportional to income, that is, the more income a person has, the more staple goods you can buy, but your need for them decreases, and so does the amount of them you buy. consume. This phenomenon is known in economics as Engel's law.

For example: people on a carnivorous diet always need to buy meat, but people with lower incomes buy only some cuts of meat fundamental, while people with higher incomes can buy different types of meat or even substitute other options, so that the demand for meat can increase in the wealthy classes, but only to a certain extent, since the basic needs are covered by beforehand.

In that, on the other hand, essential goods are distinguished from luxury goods: the former are considered essential for life and, therefore, must be available to everyone, while the latter are exquisite goods that are not essential to live, so that their demand depends on who can pay.

For the most part, basic necessities are provided by public infrastructure or by Business whose work is strongly coordinated with the State. For this reason, many of its products may have subsidies, price controls or other mechanisms that guarantee universal access to goods.

Examples of essential goods

It is important to note that the consideration of a good as essential may depend on the laws and considerations of the State, so that they are not always the same from one country to another. It is even possible that, in the face of an unexpected or emergency situation, a government may enlarge or reduce the list of those considered essential goods.

However, roughly, the following are examples of essential goods:

1. basic services: electricity, water supply, sewage service, gas supply, telephone and internet service, among others.
2. Basic sources of animal protein: meat, pork and chicken, mainly, although normally the cuts and varieties considered standard or basic.
3. Mass consumer processed foods: rice, pasta, flour, bread, common cheeses and other products that are present continuously and abundantly in people's diets.
4. common clothes: garments that do not come from luxury brands or designers, but are of common and massive access.
5. baby food: compotes, milk and other food products intended for children (such as milk substitutes).
6. Basic supplies for cooking: such as cooking oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, eggs, among others.

References:

• “Prime necessity goods” in Wikipedia.
• "Product of first need" in the Panhispanic Dictionary of Legal Spanish of the Royal Spanish Academy.
• "Basic necessities" in Expansion.

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