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>Land is one of the single most limited resources we have. It sounds romantic but is it really ? Even agricultural land is relatively cheap and there are more
by rubber_duck 8y ago
>Land is one of the single most limited resources we have.
It sounds romantic but is it really ? Even agricultural land is relatively cheap and there are more scarce resources that are needed for development.
- simonh 8y agoCheapness isn’t a measure of importance though. Air is cheap. Water is cheap. That doesn’t mean it’s ok to squander and pollute cheap but essential and very expensive to renew resources until they are not cheap anymore. Water and soil in particular are very important resources to protect, far beyond their price in economic terms. They are vital strategic assets because so much of our economy and ecology depend on them.
- igor47 8y agoThank you so much for saying what needs to be said! People read too many economists. "Money is the only measure of value and I didn't pay my own mother, so motherhood must be worthless!"
- rubber_duck 8y agoIn this case it's a good estimate of scarcity, unlike air, land is property
- simonh 8y agoNot necessarily. If there is 110% as much food as people need food can be cheap, the surplus has little to no value. The price is making not determined by infrastructural constraints and personal preferences. But if there is 1% less food than people need the price will suddenly go through the roof. We see this with oil prices. The price across the demand/supply balance point is nothing like linear.
- rubber_duck 8y ago>But if there is 1% less food than people need the price will suddenly go through the roof. There are plenty of mechanism to stabilize the price, plenty of alternative ways to produce food as price increases just like with Oil