One of the main questions of economics involves deciding upon the method for:

• A. measuring the total population of a country
• B. predicting weather patterns
• C. allocating scarce resources among competing uses
• D. determining the physical laws of nature

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the core focus of economics. Economics primarily deals with how individuals and societies make choices when faced with scarcity.
2. Step 2: Recognize that scarcity means resources are limited, but human wants are unlimited, which creates the need to allocate resources efficiently.
3. Step 3: Identify that economics studies the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses to satisfy various needs and wants.
4. Step 4: Differentiate economics from other fields: measuring population is a demographic task, predicting weather is meteorology, and determining physical laws belongs to physics.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the main question of economics is about how to allocate scarce resources among competing uses, which is the fundamental economic problem.