Scarcity

[Forstater, Mathew]

There is not one kind of "scarcity." First, there are absolute scarcity and
relative scarcity. Then there are different kinds of relative scarcity.
Neoclassical scarcity is relative scarcity of a particular type. Resources are
scarce relative to unlimited human wants, where infinite wants is part of human
nature, pre-social and unalterable. This is very different than saying, e.g.,
that resources are scarce relative to basic human needs. But all the evidence
concerning famines, e.g., shows that scarcity was not the cause, rather socially
and politically determined distributional issues are what are at bottom.  The
idea of "scarcity" is used to excuse all kinds of unnecessary suffering and
problems and policies.  Lack of social services, poverty, etc.  Most 'scarcity',
to the extent that it is valid, is trivial. Marx on Malthus, Bookchin on
Post-scarcity, Franke and Chasin on famine, numerous authors on socially
conditioned needs, are good antidotes to this stuff. Mat