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Why the ‘scarcity’ doctrine is a 200-year-old myth

30 0
14.08.2025

For more than two centuries, Western universities and their affiliated institutions — along with their global disciples — have systematically misdirected students, business leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers, economists, managers, and policymakers. This misdirection has imposed an incalculable cost on the global economy and human civilization.

The message, though expressed in slightly different words by various authors, is always the same: resources are scarce/ limited, human wants are unlimited, and therefore choices must be made. A recent 2025 economics textbook, for instance, states:

“All societies face the central economic problem of scarcity, which is a situation in which the resources available for production of goods and services are insufficient to satisfy all human wants.”

This doctrine is not a neutral observation — it is an ideological pillar that underpins systems built on inequality. Such systems concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a tiny minority while portraying this concentration as the engine of innovation and growth. They argue that when this elite invests in research and development, benefits will “trickle down” to the rest of society.

History has proven this false. For over 200 years, the so-called trickle-down effect has been nothing more than crumbs falling from the banquet tables of a privileged few, while hundreds of millions remain excluded from the development process. These are not exceptions; they are the rule.

The false foundations of economic ‘scarcity’

Classical economics identifies four “factors of production”: land, capital, labor, and entrepreneurship. Each of these, when examined critically, exposes the scarcity doctrine as deeply misleading.

The term land is outdated. It ignores the fact that solar energy, space-based resources, and other untapped sources do not belong to any single piece of land. The truth is that natural........

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