Indicators of Natural Resource Scarcity: Review, Synthesis, and Application to U.S. Agriculture

Abstract

"An increase in natural resource scarcity is defined as a reduction in economic well-being due to a decline in the quality, availability, or productivity of natural resources. Simple in concept,the measurement of natural resource scarcity is the subject of significant debate about which of the alternative indicators of scarcity, such as unit costs, prices, rents, elasticities of substitution, and energy costs is superior. Most neoclassical economists argue that, in theory, price is the ideal measure of scarcity. Barnett and Morse (1963) developed the unit cost indicator from their reading of Ricardo as an alternative to the neoclassical indicators. Some ecological economists favor a biophysical model of scarcity and derive energy-based indicators."