Economics Mr. Thadhani Current Events – Scarcity Task (1)

Name:
Economics
Date:
Mr. Thadhani
Current Events – Scarcity
Task (1): read the article entitled “Economic Theories Differ on How to Cope with Global Scarcity” from The Wall Street Journal and
complete the task below.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/ad/article/davosupdate-scarcity
Task (2): provide a brief summary of the article with a particular focus on scarcity and the world’s response to scarce resources.
Minimum of 3-5 sentences.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task (3): answers the questions below based on the article reading.
(1) Which economist wrote about the challenges that people would face in regards to resources? Why did they believe this? Explain
with a specific economic concept.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(2) How have humans been able to overcome scarcity? Identify the factor of production highlighted by this mechanism.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(3) Describe two specific examples from the article that exemplify the concept you described in question 2.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(4) According to Gregory Unruh, why does he believe the Malthusians to be incorrect? How does the market hurt the argument of
Malthusians?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(5) As we’ve discussed, economists study the economic choices made by individuals encompassing the idea of scarcity. Dr.
Unruh and Mr. Taylor describe scarcity in a way most don’t think about? What claims do they make and do you agree or
disagree with their statements? Explain.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________