> That seems to me like a strange, limited, and impractical definition of a shortage. Well, that's its definition, for better or worse. I didn't write the econ

> That seems to me like a strange, limited, and impractical definition of a shortage. Well, that's its definition, for better or worse. I didn't write the economics dictionary. I only can repeat it. Is there reason to overload this particular word? While the implications of the scenarios you describe are clear, I'm not sure why it has to be "shortage" that represents it. Why not another word or term that encompasses those cases – unaffordable, perhaps – while leaving shortage to mean what it means?