Oh, man. “Most engaged reader” here. Well, let me start by saying I’m honored to have inspired an entire post. The healthy exchange of ideas is a beautiful thing!
Next, I must say that I think we have a definitional problem here. That is, we are using “scarcity” to mean different things. When I wrote the comment that led to this post, I was mounting a defense of markets in general and the price mechanism in particular, so I was using “scarcity” in the classic economics sense (from Wikipedia):
“the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good.”
You seem to be talking about something else, which are shortage conditions. Those can arise from market failures (externalities not being priced in —> industrial pollution of water) and policy failures (local zoning control —> housing undersupply) alike. People should absolutely get up in arms about combatting shortage conditions, because in many cases - like in the examples above - they are preventable!
I just think it’s important to be clear about the lines between different concepts when having these discussions. For example, shortages as distinct from scarcity. Capitalism as distinct from hierarchy and inequality. Markets as distinct from the condition of poverty. Otherwise I don’t know how we are supposed to stay oriented and come up with good ideas for improving the world.
Oh, man. “Most engaged reader” here. Well, let me start by saying I’m honored to have inspired an entire post. The healthy exchange of ideas is a beautiful thing!
Next, I must say that I think we have a definitional problem here. That is, we are using “scarcity” to mean different things. When I wrote the comment that led to this post, I was mounting a defense of markets in general and the price mechanism in particular, so I was using “scarcity” in the classic economics sense (from Wikipedia):
“the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good.”
You seem to be talking about something else, which are shortage conditions. Those can arise from market failures (externalities not being priced in —> industrial pollution of water) and policy failures (local zoning control —> housing undersupply) alike. People should absolutely get up in arms about combatting shortage conditions, because in many cases - like in the examples above - they are preventable!
I just think it’s important to be clear about the lines between different concepts when having these discussions. For example, shortages as distinct from scarcity. Capitalism as distinct from hierarchy and inequality. Markets as distinct from the condition of poverty. Otherwise I don’t know how we are supposed to stay oriented and come up with good ideas for improving the world.