In economics, goods and services are called the set of human processes and efforts that have the ultimate goal of satisfying the needs of an individual, a community or the entire species.
They are usually managed as a joint category in macroeconomic or social planning terms, but they represent two distinct but not disconnected segments of human endeavor in societies.
What are assets?
In this sense, goods are usually understood as concrete objects , tangible or not (as in the case of culture or identity, which cannot be touched), and which can be consumed from society, that is, can be bought , obtain, negotiate, receive, etc. When speaking of merchandise , however, reference is made to physical objects that can be bought or traded.
Goods can be of various types, such as :
- Furniture . Goods that can be moved from one place to another without damaging them, such as a portable object or any household appliance.
- Real estate . Goods that cannot be moved without deteriorating or changing their nature, such as buildings.
- Tangible . Those objects that we can grasp, touch, hand over to another, like a cup of coffee.
- Intangibles . Those objects whose virtuality or cultural character makes them impossible to hold, such as national values or as a software program.
It can serve you: Examples of Goods
What are the services?
Instead, services are the set of actions carried out by another person (or machinery, as the case may be) by demand of a specific consumer who is satisfied with them.
When speaking of pure services , thus, an abstraction is made only to consider what a man is capable of doing at the request of another to satisfy his need.
The professional or technical services that we can contract are examples of services.
Differences between goods and services
Although they are not the same thing, it is difficult for a service not to involve some kind of goods, or for a good to be consumed only, lacking added services.
Thus, when we buy a TV set, we may think that we only consumed one good, but in reality we also made use of the services of a seller, a merchandise distributor, eventual technical support, etc.
However, goods are usually considered structural, that is, they can be renegotiated, inherited or transferred, while services occur at a certain period and moment, since they are exhausted over time. Goods can be returned: a service, however, cannot.
Examples of goods
- Departments, offices and houses . The so-called real estate, since they cannot be moved, are a perfect example of consumable (purchaseable), inheritable, returnable and structural goods.
- Computers, cell phones, video games . One of the most widely produced and consumed goods in contemporary times are those linked to the technological revolution of the late twentieth century. The Internet, telecommunications and the virtual world involve a huge sale of electronic devices.
- Books, magazines, newspapers . The paper culture also has its consumer goods , although some are perishable (newspapers), other newspapers (magazines) and others durable (books). These objects are the result of a publishing industry that produces, disseminates and markets them.
- Chairs, furniture, desks . The carpentry and the work of materials to elaborate surfaces is an example of movable goods (movable) that can be consumed at will and that, by the way, are indispensable to provide certain services.
- Cigarettes, coffee and alcohol . These stimulant products and licit drugs form another enormous cog in the rapidly and massively consumed personal property of today.
- The software and the applications . One of the great sources of goods in the contemporary and digital world is computer programs and smartphone applications such as video games. Many of these intangible assets, however, actually involve a series of services without which, surely, they would have no joke.
- Shoes, gloves and hats . Second-hand accessories, made of leather and even petroleum products, are highly demanded exchange goods in countries with stationary climates.
- Clothes and textiles. Clothing and clothing, hand in hand with fashion and advertising strength, is one of the inexhaustible supplies of consumable movable goods, which handles a truly gigantic volume of national and international merchandise.
- Automobiles and motorcycles. The transportation industry encompasses automobiles of all kinds, motorcycles, alternative vehicles, and a range of mechanical goods that are dependent on the fuel industry and that enable transportation services.
- Jewels and precious goods . These assets are characterized by not having a value based on their utility, but rather on their beauty or their exchange value, a bit like capital (which is not traditionally considered a good, even if it acts as one).
