Question

What is the difference between scarcity and poverty? If everyone in the world had enough to eat, could we say that food was no longer scarce? Even if poverty (defined by the United Nations) is eliminated from the face of the earth, will there be still scarcity of basic necessities?

Answer 1

Scarcity is when there is a shortage of available resources. People have unlimited wants. But the supply of resources is limited. So there is a scarcity of resources. Scarcity also arises when the demand of a good exceeds its supply. Example: There is a scarcity of oil in the world.

Poverty is when people do not even have the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, shelter and money. In poverty people are deprived of the basic resources which are required to fulfil their basic daily needs.

If a country is having a surplus of some resources then it will export those resources to other countries where there is a shortage of such resources. Even if the world had enough to eat, we cannot say that food was no longer scarce. When demand is greater than supply there is a scarcity. The demand for good is always more than the supply of food and hence we cannot say that the food was no longer scarce. Also the availability of food will always be limited and hence it will be scarce.

Even if poverty is eliminated from the face of earth, there will still be scarcity of basic necessities. If poverty will be removed then everyone will be able to afford the basic necessities and therefore the demand of basic necessities will further increase drasctically. On the other hand the supply and availibility of the basic necessities will still be limited. So there will be a scarcity of basic necessities. Infact, scarcity of basic necessities would rather increase if poverty is eliminated from the face of earth.