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Re: Economists on ecology (Re: GOODBY MIKE!)
Markets account for not only current levels of supply and demand, but
also for future levels. Anticipated prices (resulting from supply and
demand relationships in the future) cause producers and consumers to
defer production/consumption decisions.
For example, if there is an anticipated shortage of natural gas in the
future, at current price levels, it is known that prices will be bid up
to again clear the market (supply = demand). Suppliers of natural gas
will hold product off the market to obtain those elevated prices in the
future.
Making extrapolations based upon current known supplies, prices, usage
rates, technology etc. and then assuming that the market can't respond
over time to changes is bad economics.
This is exactly what led Thomas Malthus to predict that the human
population would be reduced to cannibalism as a result of overpopulation
and the burden on the natural resources. He failed to account for
markets, future technology and a myriad of other factors. Obviously he
was wrong, but a century later environmentalists are still promoting the
'sky is falling' theory using the same false methodology,
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