Economics, we are told, is the science that studies the allocation of resources under conditions of scarcity. The very basis of the market, trade—giving up something to get something else—assumes scarcity. Resources are scarce wherever the desires of all persons for goods or services cannot be met. In other words, hunger is written into the conditions under which economics operates. There is never enough to go around. But it is not simply the hunger of those who lack sufficient
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