ABSTRACT
查pter 11 covers the economics of scarcity and how, on a limited planet, we should approach the issue of limited natural resources. It begins by explaining how scarcity is a central guiding concept in orthodox economic theory, linking the availability of resources to their market prices. Drawing on insights from environmental economics, it extends the theory of the relationship between prices and scarcity by considering whether creating markets can help to preserve one particular scarce resource: the rainforests. The chapter then provides a critical view of this commodification of natural resources and offers an alternative take on scarcity, by economists who consider that the earth is abundant and that it is our market-based perceptions that are limited. Finally, the chapter offers a case study of different approaches to protecting the world’s fisheries.
