> there's a shortage of oxygen" fits perfectly well. It certainly can fit. Context is important though. If you are twenty thousand leagues under the sea and ru

> there's a shortage of oxygen" fits perfectly well. It certainly can fit. Context is important though. If you are twenty thousand leagues under the sea and running out of oxygen, an external mechanism (being isolated from people with oxygen to sell) is preventing price from rising. There is nobody to offer a higher price to. You could have all the money in the world and it still isn't going to buy you oxygen. This is indeed a shortage, by very definition. But this is not the same as being unable to afford oxygen. If your submarine is sitting in harbour, with oxygen vendors by your side, and you would be wise to have more oxygen before you use the sub again, but don't have the budget to buy it, then that does not mean there is a shortage of oxygen. It simply means you are not in the market to buy oxygen. > My point here is that your definition Let's be clear here, it is not my definition. This is the formal definition of the word. > By the way, shortage can be defined as the lack of something needed. This is what a shortage is, yes. Price is how we determine need. The one willing to pay the highest price is the one who is in the most need. Those without the desire or willingness to pay a given price are indicating that they do not have the need at that price point, and thus are no longer counted as part of the market. Only when everyone is prevented from offering more money to get what they need do we say it is shortage. Everything that carries a price is lacking to some degree. That is why it has a price: To determine who gets it and who doesn't. The higher the price, the more something is lacking. A hypothetical post-scarcity world would mean that things like food would be given away for free. But that's not the world we live in. There is only so much food to go around, and price determines who gets it, and how much of it they get. Only when an external mechanism stops the price of food from rising would you call it a shortage, however. If shortage simply meant "lacking something needed", everything that has a price would be in a shortage situation, and that would end up being quite meaningless. After all, if there was no limits to availability for a given good or service, it would be free. There is a good reason why the definition of shortage is more nuanced.