Robbins and Malthus on Scarcity, Abundance, and Sufficiency

Adel Daoud

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2010, vol. 69, issue 4, 1206-1229

Abstract: The problem of scarcity is often talked about, but it is rarely clearly defined. In this article, two different views of scarcity are outlined: absolute and relative scarcity. These two are respectively exemplified by Malthus's and Robbins's views of scarcity. However, both of these views tend to naturalize and universalize scarcity, and thus overlook abundance and sufficiency, which are important states in the social provisioning process. It is argued that this is due to ignorance of the sociocultural causal underpinnings of scarcity, abundance, and sufficiency (SAS). The introduction of these mechanisms enables further conceptual differentiation of SAS (e.g., quasi‐, artificial‐, natural‐).

Date: 2010
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