Argumentative Essay on Economic Scarcity
Uploaded by snwboarder on Oct 27, 2011
This essay argues that markets, not government, are better regulators of economic scarcity.
I Introduction
Economic scarcity is familiar to us; we see it in famine in Africa; we see it in soaring prices when products are in short supply; in fact, any time there is a want that cannot be satisfied, there is a scarcity of that product.
This paper discusses the problem of economic scarcity and argues that markets, rather than government, are better equipped to deal with it.
II Discussion
Scarcity, as I said above, results when a want cannot be satisfied. It is not necessarily a rational need, by the way—as long as people want it, and can’t have it, the principle applies. This means of course than virtually anything can become scarce—gas, water, food, Internet connections, or airplane seats—anything.
If we consider American farmers as an example, I believe it’s possible to codify the reasons why markets, not governments, are better able to deal with economic scarcity. In the United States, agricultural science has progressed to a point where farmers can grow significantly more crops than are needed. In such cases, the government sometimes pays the farmers not to grow food. (The morality of this position in the face of starvation in other parts of the world is not under discussion.) The fact is the government regulates the food supply by this method; in other words, government policy can contribute to scarcity. But this type of policy is an artificial control; the scarcity has been “manufactured” by law. The market is perhaps a more natural mechanism for dealing with economic scarcity.
The unregulated free market, which is the dream of capitalists everywhere, is governed by the “law of supply and demand.” If enough people want it, it will be manufactured/grown/designed/sold. If demand diminishes, the amount of product will also diminish. (Like the question of morality in paying farmers not to grow crops, we will also not discuss the way in which free markets often make it impossible for smaller concerns, or poorer countries, to compete successfully against the wealthy.) How does this regulate scarcity?
If we accept that supply and demand is a sensible regulatory mechanism, then what is really changing? Thomas Aquinas was one of the first economists to discuss the market, and he pointed out that the device in play is the “just price.”...