Question

Respond to the following question with three well composed paragraphs: Does the fact that something is abundant mean it is not scarce in the economic sense? Why or why not?

Answer 1

In the economic sense, abundance means something where supply exceeds demand at zero price. Even when that commodity is free, there is no shortage.

In real world very few things are abundantly available and two things we can think that are abundantly available are air and water.

We see water all around us in the form of lakes , rivers, oceans etc. Even though water is abundantly available, not all water is fit for human consumption . Sea water is not suitable for human consumption, similarly lakes ,rivers, groundwater that are contaminated are not suitable for human consumption .

Next when we consider air, we know air is available all around us to breathe and hence it is abundantly available. However, the quality of air differs from place to place and region to region. In industrial areas the quality of air is poor due to high amount of pollutants present in the air. People living in such areas may find it difficult to breathe and may also be exposed to risk of contacting diseases due to air pollution. The amount of air or oxygen present in mountaineous region is less than the amount present at sea level. This is because at higher altitude air becomes thin due to less oxygen and people find it difficult to breathe at higher elevation .

Thus we can conclude that even though something is abundant, it does not mean there is no scarcity.