SCARCE: The general condition indicating that a good or resource is limited relative to the what people want. In terms of ALL resources and goods throughout society, the related term scarcity is used. Being scarce is what makes it possible to exchange goods and resources through markets, and most importantly, charge a price. If a good is not scarce, which means that the economy has more than enough to satisfy all available uses, then there is no way to sell it. Who would buy such an item, pay a price for it, give up something of value in exchange for it, when it is so abundant? Likewise, if a item is so abundant, using it to satisfy one use does not impose an opportunity cost on other uses.

     See also | scarcity | goods | services | resources | market | exchange | price | opportunity cost | shortage | equilibrium price | quantity demanded | quantity supplied | surplus | economic good | scarce good | scarce resource | free good | free resource |

SCARCE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 18, 2025].

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The official unemployment rate estimated and reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using data from Current Population Survey is one of six alternative measures of unemployment tracked and reported by the BLS, officially labeled sequentially U1 through U6. The "official" unemployment rate is U3. The other five measures seek to document different ways in which labor can be under utilized, including unemployment duration, job losers, discouraged workers, marginal workers, and part-time workers.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time flipping through the yellow pages hoping to buy either a pleather CD case or a how-to book on fine dining. Be on the lookout for cardboard boxes.
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