[extropy-chat] economics, scarcity, and plenty

[Jeff Davis]

Welcome to the list, Dave.

--- David Masten <dmasten at piratelabs.org> wrote:

> I'm new to the list, and I seem to have come in on a
> discussion of
> things that just don't make sense. "Economics of
> scarcity" and
> "economics of plenty" are meaningless to me.

Let me try to help out, speaking only for myself, of
course.

> If we are talking about economics then I expect that
> the words used would be the terms of art for
economics. The usual definition of economics is the
study of the allocation of scarce resources. 

                  <snip>
 
> Scarcity is the distinguishing characteristic of
> an economic good.
> [defined as] not freely available for the taking. To

> obtain such a good, one must either produce it or 
> offer other economic goods in exchange. 
> 
> Economic Good – A good that is scarce relative to
> the total amount of   it that is desired. It must 
> therefore be rationed, usually by charging a 
> positive price.

Now, from the above definitions, I take "positive
price"  to mean greater than zero, but otherwise
unspecified.  So, for the purpose of clarifying their
meanings, in an "economics of scarcity" an automobile
costs $40,000.  In an "economics of abundance" it
costs 40 cents.  And, so there be no misunderstanding,
that 40 cents is equally easy to come by under both
economic regimes.

So, in fact you're right.  It's still, in a rigorous
sense, an economics of scarcity, which as you say is
really just economics, the scarcity being implied. 
However, within the context of this discussion,
"economics of scarcity" and "economics of abundance"
are intended (by me at least) to distinguish between
two conditions of scarcity, of -- based on my example,
and for discussion purposes only, it could be less or
it could be more -- five orders of magnitude
difference.

I hope that's helpful.

Best, Jeff Davis

   "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                           Ray Charles





	
		
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