A major characteristic of natural resources is that they

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for a major characteristic of natural resources. These are resources provided by nature, such as land, crude oil, minerals, forests, and water. Humans did not create them.

Step 2: Explain the concept In Economics, natural resources are part of the factor of production called land. The key features of land and natural resources are:

• They are gifts of nature, not produced by human effort.
• They are limited in supply overall (scarce).
• They are immobile, at least geographically.
• They can have a price once they are owned or exploited, for example crude oil or farmland.

Step 3: Test each option

• A. Unlimited in supply: Wrong. Natural resources are limited, and this is the very reason scarcity exists.
• B. High cost of production: Wrong. Natural resources are not produced by humans, so they have no production cost in the usual sense. Extracting them can be costly, but that is a different matter.
• C. Free gifts of nature: Correct. They exist naturally and were not made by human effort. This is the standard textbook characteristic.
• D. Do not command any price: Wrong. Many natural resources, such as crude oil, gold, and land, command very high prices in the market. "Free" here means nature provides them without cost of creation, not that they are sold at zero price.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is C. are free gifts of nature.

Exam tip: Remember "land = gift of nature." If an option says "unlimited," be suspicious, because economics is built on scarcity. Also, don't confuse "free gift" (no one produced it) with "free of charge" (no price), since option D is a common trap.