The economy of resources is a kind of dictatorship. A great dictator decides how many resources can you have. If he wants you to live, he gives you resources. If he wants you to die, he stops giving you resources.
This is not necessarily true. There are always limits to the amount of resources available as the land that people live on can only produce so much resources.
A resource based economy is essentially one that the person who owns more land has more power and wealth