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The concept of scarcity is the cornerstone of economics as a discipline. After all, "Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different groups" (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1989, p. 5). What is more, the economics profession is rather particular in distinguishing absolute from relative scarcity, and quick in emphasizing that it is relative scarcity which defines economics. Most of the current economic theory is derived from the law of (relative) scarcity which "states that goods are scarce because there are not enough resources to produce all the goods that people want to consume" (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1989, p. 26). Furthermore, scarcity "exists simply because it is human nature for people to want more than they have" (Ruffin and Gregory, 1993, p. 3).As self-evident as these statements appear to be, further consideration of the underlying precepts reveals that the self-evidence is in part based on deliberate simplification by economists of certain (philosophical, behavioural, ethical and psychological) issues surrounding the concepts of needs and wants. This simplification is due to the economists' tendency to "reduce" problems to their "essence", as a starting point in economic analysis. The following statement illustrates rather well how economists view and treat the concepts of "needs" and "wants": economics must reckon with consumer wants and needs whether they are genuine or contrived. Shakespeare's King Lear said, "Reason not the need" -and economists do not; rather they analyze how limited goods get rationed among whatever wants a society generates (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1989, p. 26).

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