Abstract
No matter how affluent or poor we are as individuals or as a nation, scarcity is always present; that is, what we want exceeds what is available. Nature can be blamed for this state of affairs because it has given us fewer resources than we believe we must have. And other people can be considered culprits because they compete with us for scarce goods. Thus, we all live in a world of scarcity. To get a little bit more of something, a little bit of something else has to be given up.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Suggested Readings
Demsetz, H. “Toward a Theory of Property Rights,” American Economic Journal, 57, 1967.
North, D. “Institutions, Economic Growth and Freedom,” in Freedom. Democracy and Economic Welfare (M. Walker, ed.), Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1988.
S. Pejovich, “Toward an Economic Theory of the Creation and Specification of Property Rights,” Review of Social Economy, 30, 1972.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(1990). Scarcity, Institutions and Economic Behavior. In: The Economics of Property Rights: Towards a Theory of Comparative Systems. International Studies in Economics and Econometrics, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-28557-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-28557-3_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0878-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-585-28557-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive