Why is economics called the science of scarcity?

Question

Why is economics called the science of scarcity?

Answer 1

Economics is called the science of scarcity because it epitomizes two fundamental conditions of human existence: "unlimited" wants on the one hand, and resources or means required to satisfy those wants are relatively "limited."  

The fact that humans have "unlimited" wants implies that there is no conceivable limit to the level, quality, or variety of a person's desires, wants, satisfactions, or "consumption goals."  On the other hand, a person is opposed by the fact that the natural and human resources available to him/her for realizing his/her goals, e.g., natural resources and labor power, are relatively limited in amount or are inapproptiate in their given forms;  i.e., they are "scare."

Answer 2

Simple, resources of any kind are limited in quantity! In other words, there's only so much of anything. And so Economics focuses on a variety of issues surrounding those limited resources.

For instance, how they should be distributed (allocated)? What happens if new sources are found, thus increasing the amount of one or more resources? What if a resources was taken away or threatned? Etc

So the most basic principle in all of Economics is the simple notion that resources are limited.

Answer 3

Because economics will create scarcity in order to keep profits higher . I have seen natural gas burned off in the south west to keep profits high. The same goes for oil food -you name it.

Answer 4

economics is the study of the most efficient utilization of scarce economic resources (finite resources).  namely land, labor and capital.

Answer 5

Scarcity means that there are only limited resources in the world, and everyone wants infinite amounts.

Economics is the study of how the limited resources are distributed into the world of unlimited demand.

Answer 6

Partly because economics studies how scarce (limited) resources are used and distributed. For example, economics can explain why the prices of some things can be so high, while the prices of other things remain low.

It is reasonable to agree that coffee and petroleum are both in high demand in the US, correct? But oil has such a higher price because, sure there is plenty of it, but it is really hard for the average person to get at it. Plus, the amount of it and where it is located is limited, and you need exclusive rights to get at it. So the companies that got those rights paid a lot to have them and they pay a hefty sum to get to the oil (drills are not cheap). This, coupled with high demand, creates scarcity power, and gives the oil producer bargaining power over the consumer and equates to a high price.

Coffee, on the other hand, is not so hard to get. In fact, an OPEC-like organization for coffee was once attempted, but because so many other people could easily grow coffee, its ability to enforce a uniform price for coffee was lost, because new coffee farmers frequently would charge less than what the organization charged. To sum up, there is a lot of coffee and it is very easy to grow and attain. Despite high demand for it, this high amount of supply equates to almost no scarcity, and hence, no bargaining power for coffee producers.

Hope that was a good example.