Scarcity is a central concept in economics. In fact, neoclassical economics, the dominant school of economics today, defines its field as involving scarcity: following Lionel Robbins' definition, it is the study of the allocation of scarce goods among competing ends. Scarcity means not having sufficient resources to produce enough to fulfill unlimited subjective wants. Alternatively, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be attained at the same time, so that we must trade off one good against others. Neoclassical economics is the grouping of a number of schools of thought in economics. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

"Resources scarcity" is defined as there being a difference between the desire and the demand for a good. What this means is that a good is scarce if people would consume more of it if it were free. Scarcity (S) can also be viewed as the difference between a person's desires (D) and his possessions (P). Mathematically, this can be expressed as S = D - P. If P > D, a state of negative scarcity exists which is abundance. For most people desire exceeds possession and this provides the spur to material success. In others an excess of desire over possession can also lead to conflict, crime and war. An Enlightenment philosopher, possibly David Hume, wrote that "all conflict springs from scarcity." Abundance is the state in which there is more than enough. ... David Hume David Hume (April 26, 1711 (May 7th by the Gregorian reckoning of his time, his birthday is celebrated by the International Humanist and Ethical Union on May 7th)– August 25, 1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and, with Adam Smith and Thomas Reid among others, one of...

Goods and services are scarce because of the limited availability of resources (the factors of production) along with the limits on our technology and our management skills. These determine the location of society's production possibilities frontier or curve (PPF). Inefficiencies in the use of resources (less than full employment or inappropriate employment of inputs) may limit the amount produced so the economy operates below its PPF. If it difficult to abolish them, these inefficiencies imply institutional artificial scarcity. Classical economics distinguishes between three factors of production which are used in the production of goods: Land or natural resources - naturally-occurring goods such as soil and minerals. ... In economics, the production possibility frontier (the PPF, also called the production possibilities curve (PPC) or the “transformation curve”) is a graph that depicts the trade-off between any two items produced. ... In economics, full employment has more than one meaning. ... Artificial scarcity is an economic term describing the scarcity of items even though the technology and production capacity exists to create an abundance. ...

Where goods are scarce it is necessary for society to make choices as to how they are allocated and used. Economists study (among other things) how societies perform the optimal allocation of these resources -- along with how societies often fail to attain this optimality and are instead inefficient and how to solve this problem. The term inefficiency has several meanings depending on the context in which its used: Economic inefficiency refers to a situation where we could be doing a better job, i. ...

For example, we may all want to own gold jewelry. However, the amount of gold available is limited, so it is necessary to make choices as to how it is allocated. In a market economy, this is achieved by trade. (Other ways to make this decision involve tradition, community democracy, and government top-down or centralized command.) In the market, individuals and organizations (such as corporations) trade resources amongst themselves, reallocating resources to where they are most wanted by those with purchasing power. In a smoothly operating market system, the rate of exchange between different resources, or price will adjust so that demand is equal to supply. One of the roles of the economist is to discover the relationship between demand and supply and to develop mechanisms (such as pricing, incentives, or penalties) to achieve an optimal outcome (in terms of consumer welfare). Jewelry (spelled jewellery in British English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ... The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). ...

Some see the above definition of scarcity as invalid, on the grounds that it assumes both human wants are unlimited. "Unlimited wants" seems a product of indoctrination (say, by advertisers). Alternatively, the "unlimited wants" may be the result of the unsatisfying nature of work in a capitalist economy. In alienated labor, the needs resulting from a worker doing noncreative work under some manager's command to produce something that is of no interest (except to earn a wage) can be "solved" by buying unnecessary product. Thus in News from Nowhere, a somewhat Marxian utopian novel by William Morris, the existence of creative work for all helps to abolish the scarcity of products. However, most economists disagree with these critiques. Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx. ... Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... William Morris, socialist and innovator in the arts & crafts movement William Morris (March 24, 1834 – October 3, 1896) was one of the principal founders of the British Arts and Crafts Movement and is best known as a designer of wallpaper and patterned fabrics, a writer of poetry and fiction, and...

Certain intangible goods are likely to remain scarce by definition or by design; examples include awards generated by honours systems, fame, and membership of elites. These things are said to derive all or most of their value from their scarcity. But these are examples of artificial scarcity, reflecting societal institutions. That is, the resource cost of giving someone the title of "knight of the realm" is much less than the value that individuals attach to that title. Elite may refer to Elitism - the concept of social stratification by innate or social qualities Elite - computer software game Elite - a skilled hacker Elite Systems, a UK video game developer. ...

As informational goods can be copied at negligible cost, they do not need to be scarce. This is why copies of free software such as GNU/Linux are typically available for very little cost. However, proprietary software and many other products are kept artificially scarce by copyright and patent law.

Opportunity cost is a term used in economics, to mean the cost of something in terms of an opportunity foregone (and the benefits that could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable foregone alternative. ... The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). ... In economics, elasticity is the ratio of the incremental percentage change in one variable with respect to an incremental percentage change in another variable. ... The term surplus is used in economics for several related quantities. ... The demand for various commodities by individuals are generally thought of as the outcome of a utility-maximizing process. ... Consumer theory relates preferences, indifference curves and budget constraints to consumer demand curves. ... See also: record producer. ... In economics, the main criteria by which one can distinguish between different market forms are: the number and size of producers and consumers on the market, the type of goods and services being traded, and the degree to which information can flow freely. ... Welfare economics is a branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to simultaneously determine the allocational efficiency of a macroeconomy and the income distribution consequences associated with it. ... In economics, a market failure is a situation in which markets do not efficiently organize production or allocate goods and services to consumers. ...

Further reading

• Georges Bataille's The Accursed Share
• Trade and Market in the Early Empires, edited by K. Polanyi, C. Arensberg, and H. Pearson
• Marshall Sahlins Stone Age Economics

See also: Thomas Malthus. The Rev. ...

External links

• Critical analysis of the concept of scarcity