In the mainstream/capitalist economy, the idea is that goods are produced to satisfy needs; the needy ones purchase the goods, thus letting the makers make a living and keep on building things.
In theory this works well; in practice you have things like:
Manufacturing of useless “wants” rather than useful “needs”, and a marketing infrastructure designed to convince you to buy buy buy whatever you are presented.
Production moving to the lowest-paid countries, thus depleting other regions of their technology and livelihood.
Destruction of ecosystems because the only measure of success is money, not harmony with the surroundings.