Relative Scarcity
Another problem caused by our wants is known as relative scarcity . Relative scarcity happens because our wants are unlimited, but the resources required to fulfil them are limited. This causes damage to the natural environment, which is certainly essential to our survival. Our wants are unlimited in the sense that as soon as one want is satisfied, another appears. For example, a person who has already acquired a house, food, water, basic clothing, and has money left over will buy an item that will make their life easier, such as a car. That person may later decide to buy a bag, designer jeans, a new car, a new smartphone – and the list goes on. People’s wants can never be completely satisfied because as soon as we buy one of these items, we desire another. Before you know it, you have just spent $35 million on a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO race car.
Here are some other wants:
• diamond-covered smartphone: $9.4 million
• private yacht: $590 million
• bottle of wine: $160 000
• slippers covered with diamonds and rubies: $3 million
• a 27-storey skyscraper for a couple and their three
children to call home: $2 billion
• a diamond watch: $25 million
• a dog house for a pet Chihuahua: $325 000.
