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. They will be individuals or institutions that will be making decisions in this context.
With the definition of these agents the economic game is synthesized, and it is possible 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 could be considered any legal or natural person that is independently exercising some type of economic activity in the market. Those entities that carry out diverse economic activities can be included, regardless of the legal status they have or mode of financing.
It is then possible to understand as an economic agent, those who participate in the processing, production and commercialization of goods and services; through agreements, arrangements and contracts agreed upon among themselves, thus impacting their activity in the markets and transcending the State economy through the profits or commercial profits that they manage to obtain.
We are all economic agents because we all in one way or another star in economic activity, consuming goods or services and making payments for these with income that we have received from another type of agent.
By paying for these goods and services, we will be promoting the productivity of other agents.
There are three major economic agents within a closed economy.
The consumers (families), producers (Business) and the market regulator (state). All with a differentiated and essential role, establishing a close relationship between them on a mandatory basis.
The various economic activities will be interrelated and thus dependent on each other.
A family, in addition to consuming, could be its members participating in the productive work of a company, the consumer company also being through its role as buyer of inputs. The government can play a role of consumer and producer at the same time under certain circumstances.
The economic agents will be generating wealth with the potential to benefit all the actors.
When each of these agents are 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 properly, and due to their interdependence, its negative influence on other agents could adversely affect the general economy.
Economic agents and their characteristics
The families
Families are considered as the economic units that are in charge of consumption, defined as a number of people who share the coexistence.
In the economic sense and from the perspective considered in this matter, the family could even have a single member or several of them, 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 production resources, providing work.
Characteristic of regions with less development, 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; carrying out the role of owner of the productive factors. Although they are consumers par excellence, they will be offering the production factors in the form of work almost always.
Families as groups, or individuals individually who take part in the economy of a nation, they will be the ones who will have the largest 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 be seeking to satisfy their needs through the consumption of services and products.
Businesses
These are the agents in charge of producing goods and services through the factors of production that families provide.
In exchange for these factors of production, they must be paying families in exchange for work, wages; 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 to be consumed.
The companies may be private, public or voluntary. They are projected seeking the greatest utility and benefit that they can achieve.
They can be classified as the basic units of production, whose objective or primary role is the manufacture of goods and services that will aim to achieve the greatest possible benefit, taking into account the limitations that both technological and budgetary have.
In order to be able to carry out this activity, it will be essential to have a certain amount of resources and productive factors, which can be bought or contracted to domestic economies.
Mainly three productive factors are considered. Capital-physical, where facilities, machinery, etc. are included, and finance-capital, consisting of credits and money. The second of these the earth, conforming it raw materials and natural resources and lastly, human work, existing both intellectual and physical work.
Productive resources are named as (inputs) - inputs, and (outputs) - outputs, consequently to the services and goods obtained. Companies could be considered as a system that allows the transformation of inputs into outputs, using specific technologies for this.
Technology can be defined as the application or concrete use of scientific knowledge, which will be giving rise to a combination of different inputs or productive factors in order to obtain a given production. In each historical scenario, particular technological alternatives will be available for the manufacture of goods.
The state
Made up of the set of public institutions of a nation. Apart from offering and demanding goods and services at the same time, it collects taxes from companies and families that are destined 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 which it will redistribute to carry out various activities.
Some of its relevant actions will be to provide the country with public services and goods (universities, highways, etc.), subsidizing companies and families with the greatest needs; also managing their institutions.
It will have the role of supplier and demander of production factors in the market.
In summary, it is possible to state that the state will regulate economic activity to a large extent, providing a legal framework for agents to act.
It will own part of the productive factors as raw materials, capital and natural resources. It will provide society with a 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 collected taxes to minimum wage subsidies, unemployment benefits, etc.
Relationship between economic agents
The economic agents are related to each other and transcendently through the exchange of goods and services.
In this process the economic activities They will be divided into two fundamental types; those of consumption and production activities.
Consumer activities will be carried out by families when they proceed to buy goods and services. In this sense and therefore they cannot be used to develop the production of other services or goods, or to be marketed at a higher price. Household furniture, food, clothing etc. could be considered some examples.
Production activities are carried out by the State and companies. They buy goods and services from private or public companies, using them to produce other types of goods or products that could also be finally sold.
What has been said in a car factory is exemplified, where the goods could be the car engine, the doors, etc., these will be used in the finished product as "intermediate goods", or as products that will be marketed later without undergoing variation. , as they were acquired serving as spare parts.
The State as well as the 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 form part of the finished product.
The economy is supported to study economic agents, in the assertion that they assume or respect the principle of rationalityThere is a series of defined objectives to which the decisions will aim, considering the limits that will impose the lack of the types of resources available.
The needs of the human being who will be trying to satisfy the different economic activities will have to do with finite resources and not in a few cases that are difficult to achieve. This is one of the reasons why Detailed structures of the parties that take part in this process need to be defined. 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, This is why the existing projection in knowing in depth the way in which these agents proceed 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.