Question

"There is a great deal of confusion introduced when economists try to distinguish between the concepts of "scarcity" and a "shortage". Since both concepts imply that everyone doesn't have all they desire of particular goods, then it would avoid confusion to refer to any situation in which people dont have all they desire of a particular good as a 'shortage' of that good." Do you agree with this statement - is there really no distinction between "scarcity" and "shortage"? If there is a distinction, explain what it is.

Answer 1

I would like to use a quote here which suits this question and it is like this "There are enough resources for everyone needs but not even for a single man's greed" by Mahatma Gandhi.
No I don't agree with the above statement as both "scarcity" and "shortage" are different and there is a clear distinction between the two.
Scarcity is a natural limitation on the availability of a good which cannot be replenished but however shortage is a man made and it is not natural and also the shortage conditions do get resolved overtime.We can also define shortage as less availability of a good in a market at some price.Shortage is a also a cyclical phenomena of an economy as we can often hear in newspapers about like in natural calamity situations even there is a shortage of essential goods and it is also temporary and when the condition becomes stable the supply of those goods increase.
We can also define shortage as goods and services which are not available in the required quantity but whereas the  scarcity means in layman terms as availability is limited  of natural resources and also the scarcity is permanent and not temporary and there is only one way to get over with a scarcity of a good is to find an alternative of a good.