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Can we stop abusing the technical economic definition of "shortage"? In economics a shortage means the price is too low for the demand quantity, but in everyday
by inigyou 3mo ago
Can we stop abusing the technical economic definition of "shortage"? In economics a shortage means the price is too low for the demand quantity, but in everyday usage a shortage means the supply quantity is too low.
With the basic supply/demand curve, "shortage" and "discount" are synonyms and I know which word makes more sense to describe the scenario.
- abanana 3mo agoWhat? There's no abuse going on here, because (1) the technical economic definition of "shortage" is simply demand exceeding supply, exactly the same as the everyday meaning; and (2) even if the meanings were different, technical or domain-specific-jargon meanings of words don't trump everyday-use meanings, unless you're in a technical meeting of people within that narrow domain.
- inigyou 3mo agoEconomist definition: demand at this price level exceeds supply at this price level Normal people definition: there isn't enough to go around Economist corollary: there is enough to go around, people are just buying more than they need because the price is low Can you tell the difference between the supermarket put potatoes on sale and sold out, and there are no potatoes because of the potato blight?