SCARCE GOOD: A resource with an available quantity less than its desired use. Scarce resources are also called factors of production. Scarce goods are also termed economic goods. Scarce resources are used to produce scarce goods. Like the more general society-wide condition of scarcity, a given resource is scarce because it has a limited availability in combination with a greater (potentially unlimited) productive use. It's both of these that make it scarce. In other words, even though an item is quite limited it will not be a scarce resource if it has few if any uses (think pocket lint and free good).

     See also | scarcity | goods | services | factors of production | resources | market | exchange | price | opportunity cost | scarce resource | free good | free resource |

SCARCE GOOD, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: November 6, 2025].

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Goods characterized by rival consumption and the ability to exclude nonpayers. Private goods are one of four types of goods differentiated by consumption rivalry and nonpayer excludability. The other three goods are public (nonrival consumption and nonpayers cannot be excluded), common-property (rival consumption and nonpayers cannot be excluded), and near-public (nonrival consumption and nonpayers can be excluded). Rival consumption and the ease of excluding of nonpayers means private goods can be efficiently exchanged through markets.

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