Scarcity
Discussion
"Scarcity under a price system:
The reason why there is inherent scarcity is not because of physical restraints in the territorial base, according to the economist, but has more to do with the consumer demand. The assumption is that all demands are equal, that for example the needs of a single mother in a favela in Saõ Paolo in Brazil, is equal to Jay Leno's wants of a 611th Chrysler with gold plates from year 1958.
In this model, all demands are absolutes and all other infringements upon the demands except poverty are seen as unacceptable as they lead to "inefficiencies". According to this model, as earlier stated in my article about Energy Accounting, all human needs and wants are equivalent to each-other, and all needs and wants are without any borders, i.e, human beings always want to possess more and more.
Thus, scarcity is actually relative in this model, as a knight with a silver plate armour would envy the knight with a golden plate armour, and it is inherently based on subjective judgements about value, rather than physical scarcity in itself.
Thus, when economists and technocrats are talking about scarcity, the economist is talking about something which is going on inside a person's head, while the technocrat is talking about the physical constraints of a particular geographical zone. How much fresh water there is, how many minerals, how much capacity to grow food. For the economist, the important thing is rather "how much are people willing to work to get hold on these resources,
Thus, relative scarcity according to the economist will always be absolute." (http://en.technocracynet.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=137)
More Information
General:
- Abundance vs. Scarcity ; Artificial Scarcity;
- Pre-Scarcity: a prior phase of human history before the Scarcity paradigm became dominant.
- Post-Scarcity ; Post-Scarcity Age ; Post-Scarcity Fiction
Specialized:
- Monetary Scarcity: the current monetary system is based on artificially creating scarcity.(Bernard Lietaer) on the artificial scarcity of the present money system
- Monetary Sufficiency - Non-scarcity based monetary systems
- Ludocapitalism and the scarcity in gaming worlds
- Abundance vs. Scarcity Mentality: the subjectvive aspects of abundance and scarcity.
- Against the artificial scarcity induced by IP law
- Post-Scarcity Anarchism