ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the idea of scarcity because it is profoundly intertwined with the idea that we are rational, self-interested individuals. It discusses a return to subsistence and to the idea of needs. It is often commented upon that the core interest of economics as a discipline was bound up with an examination of the causes of the wealth of nations. A discussion of needs is closely linked to J. Ruskin's idea of appropriate production and distribution rather than the unbounded desire for more and more commodities that underpins the idea of scarcity in economic theory. The idea that scarcity acts as a spur to economic growth can also be understood to be a political argument for scarcity. The idea of scarcity is a deeply ambivalent one. For the classical economists growth would eventually be limited because of the lack of opportunities for productive investment, the fixed supply of land or demographic pressures.
