第一頁 第二頁 第三頁 第四頁 第五頁 第六頁

　

Scarcity, Competition & Discrimination

Competition defined

　

　

 Competition is defined as a situation where two or more individuals compete for more of the same economic good. It exists when two or more individuals in society want more of the same scarce good.
Scarcity & Competition

　

　

　

 In a state of scarcity, competition is inevitable. Scarcity forces a choice among limited options, and we compete for those options. In a society of more than one person, scarcity implies competition. Hence, competition exists in every social system, whether it is capitalist or socialist.
Price & non-price Competition

　

　

　

　

　

　

 Since we cannot have everything we want, we must make choices. We must choose how to use available resources. We can distinguish the competition between price and non-price competition

In price competition, people who are willing and able to pay the market price will get the thing they want.

Non-price competition includes all forms of competition, other than that of price.
Scarcity, Competition & Discrimination

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

 Scarcity implies competition as well as discrimination. Due to competition, some criteria are used to determine winners and losers or to discriminate between winners and losers. Only those who can satisfy the criteria can acquire the goods.

All forms of competition is essentially discriminatory in nature because it decides among the competitors who win and who lose. For example, price discriminates the poor, first-come-first-served system discriminates people who value their time highly.

So, scarcity, competition and discrimination are inter-related to one another.