Resources

Resources are the totality of available tools such as funds, raw materials, land, energy and people that are available specifically to solve a specific task.

In economics, resources - usually labor and capital - are observed as factors of production. Depending on the analysis, however, land or other natural factors of production, such as raw materials, are also considered.

In the narrower sense, resources refer to the raw materials and energy sources available on earth. A distinction is made between reserves and resources.

The reserves define the known deposits that can be mined economically with today`s technology. The resources are the deposits that can possibly be mined with future technology, without dependence on economics.

In addition to the economic resources described here, sociology also designates cultural resources that influence the social status of an actor in a given society.

Informatics in the field of computer hardware, for example, identifies the CPU or the hard disk as a resource.