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> No, demand is characterized by the quantity demanded at a given price. Okay. So, every formalized definition I could find more or less echoes this one: "Dem

> No, demand is characterized by the quantity demanded at a given price. Okay. So, every formalized definition I could find more or less echoes this one: "Demand is an economic principle that describes a consumer's desire and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service. Holding all other factors constant, an increase in the price of a good or service will decrease demand, and vice versa." – http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demand.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demand.asp But you are telling us that demand is evaluated by interest across the entire price spectrum. Therefore, holding all other factors constant, an increase in price does not change the demand at all, as those holding firm at the lower price are still demand. Whose definition are you using here? > Not by just saying it, but you could post a want ad for programmers at $1/hr in order to investigate the potential supply of programmers at that price. Does your definition of demand always require that the buyer be so formal in their investigation? > but that just means there's no supply of programmers at that price, not that there's no demand. Which, by your early definition of shortage meaning demand exceeding supply, means that virtually everything is in shortage. The demand, as you call it, at the price of free is almost infinite for any desirable good. That leaves shortage to not seem like very useful terminology whatsoever. Why even bother using the term shortage at all when we can infer that almost everything is in shortage? And what is special about the shortage of developers that warrants all the media attention? Especially in light of the severe shortage of Ferraris, which I frequently see people expressing their interest to buy at lower prices in these discussions. I never see in the news calls to fix the Ferrari shortage, nor do I see any government intervention to try and correct the lack of Ferraris being produced. > Now you're assuming that there is supply--programmers available at higher prices I'm not sure where you got that idea. We have acknowledged right from the beginning that price can stop rising. That's kind of the entire basis of the discussion.

pdonis 10y ago
> every formalized definition I could find Have you ever looked at an actual textbook? Even what you quoted does not define "demand" as price. It says "an increase in the price of a good or service will decrease demand"--which implies that "demand" means quantity demanded (at a given price). Which is how I defined it. > an increase in price does not change the demand at all I said demand (more precisely, the demand curve) is quantity demanded as a function of price. I certainly did not claim that quantity demanded does not change if price increases. > Does your definition of demand always require that the buyer be so formal in their investigation? No, it just requires a market. "Just saying" something does not constitute a market, but making an offer to buy something at a given price does. > by your early definition of shortage meaning demand exceeding supply, means that virtually everything is in shortage No, it doesn't. Let me restate my definition of shortage to make the definitions I have been using explicit: it means that quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied at the current price. That is certainly not true of "virtually everything". > I'm not sure where you got that idea From what you said. You said: "Every time the price goes up, there will be buyers dropping out of the market not willing to pay the new high." Why does the price go up? If buyers aren't the ones setting the price (which is obvious since not all of them are willing to pay it), it must be sellers, i.e., programmers. So for your statement to make sense at all, there must be programmers available at the higher prices. > We have acknowledged right from the beginning that price can stop rising. I'm not sure who this "we" is that you refer to. You have claimed that "the price is rising", and that this will continue until there is only one programmer in the world who is working. That doesn't sound like acknowledging that the price can stop rising.

pdonis 10y ago

> every formalized definition I could find Have you ever looked at an actual textbook? Even what you quoted does not define "demand" as price. It says "an increase in the price of a good or service will decrease demand"--which implies that "demand" means quantity demanded (at a given price). Which is how I defined it. > an increase in price does not change the demand at all I said demand (more precisely, the demand curve) is quantity demanded as a function of price. I certainly did not claim that quantity demanded does not change if price increases. > Does your definition of demand always require that the buyer be so formal in their investigation? No, it just requires a market. "Just saying" something does not constitute a market, but making an offer to buy something at a given price does. > by your early definition of shortage meaning demand exceeding supply, means that virtually everything is in shortage No, it doesn't. Let me restate my definition of shortage to make the definitions I have been using explicit: it means that quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied at the current price. That is certainly not true of "virtually everything". > I'm not sure where you got that idea From what you said. You said: "Every time the price goes up, there will be buyers dropping out of the market not willing to pay the new high." Why does the price go up? If buyers aren't the ones setting the price (which is obvious since not all of them are willing to pay it), it must be sellers, i.e., programmers. So for your statement to make sense at all, there must be programmers available at the higher prices. > We have acknowledged right from the beginning that price can stop rising. I'm not sure who this "we" is that you refer to. You have claimed that "the price is rising", and that this will continue until there is only one programmer in the world who is working. That doesn't sound like acknowledging that the price can stop rising.