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I agree with you, but to be fair it can be both - if the demand for senior engineers outpaces the supply, you can't just make more senior engineers overnight.

• whimsicalism 5y ago
  Not all demand needs to be filled. I have a demand for a $10/hr senior software engineer who would do my job for me while I chilled on the couch, it doesn't mean that we have a shortage of engineers or that we need to be intervening to increase the supply.
  • mindvirus 5y ago
    Maybe it's just semantics, but what I mean is from a utilitarian perspective, we can still lose out. For example imagine a life saving surgery without enough doctors who can do it. On one hand those doctors would be well paid, on the other hand we'd likely be better off as a society if more people could do it.
    • jacobr1 5y ago
      This is the power of the price system and markets. If there is increased demand, with limited supply, prices rise. This, in turn, incentivizes the creation of supply (and supply of substitutes to the extant that is feasible). For your example, at high enough prices, some doctors will change specialties, forms of automation will be encouraged. Teams of practitioners will be formed that allow the doctors to do back-to-back procedures while others like nurses handle preparations, medical tourism will occur while some seek out potentially less-trained doctors in countries will better supply or lower-regulation. More will be encouraged to go into medicine, alternatives like medicine will be investigated, fake-cures will be promulgated from the unscrupulous.