Human security - from the economic notion of scarcity viewpoint

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

The economic notion of resource scarcity differs from what scientists consider for physical abundance of resources. For economists, the net value of resources over the course of time is a measure for making judgment for resource scarcity. From an economic point of view, if marginal costs increase as remaining reserves decline, but market price does not increase as fast as the costs, then the net value is declining and it indicates NON growing scarcity. The fact that remaining reserves are declining would indicate geologic scarcity, but unless market price increases fast enough than marginal cost, the resource is not becoming economically scarce.

Indeed from an economic perspective market forces; technology costs, future demands, substitute commodities prices and their availability will determine the level of scarcity for resources rather than geologic and physical availability of resources.

What about environmental quality; fresh water and clean air? What about species face the danger of extinction? Could we apply this commodity-based and private goods notion of economic scarcity to public and environmental goods? Can this notion guarantee the irreversible exploitation of the life-support resources?

Scarcity is an economic fact of life and can be manageable for commodities that flow through organized institutions such as markets. However where the case is about the scarcity of life support resources and human security may another institution should be in play. In the latter case, interchangeability, market price and demand fluctuation are not applicable.

Having the reality of limited capital and human resources and necessity of their optimal allocations, we need a framework to help us to effectively prioritize our environmental objectives. The more non-market the environmental service, the harder it will be to adapt this economic notion of scarcity. It is suited to private commodities that exchanged in markets.

The existing value system cannot appropriately calculate the real value of environmental goods. Furthermore the prevailing and dominated development model for societies cannot accommodate all aspects of human security.

These all may require the development of new economic value system within new global governance, with focus on effective regional cooperation and conservation efforts, to fulfill the human security needs.        

From Globalization to Chaos – (application of entropy measure)

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

With applying the philosophical reasoning approach (see my previous post), I examine the link between globalization and expecting more confrontations. In science, there is an analytical measure, it is called entropy, that being employed to evaluate phenomena which directly dominate human’s life. It can be used to explain aging, society decay, stability life, information, language, codifications, norms and cultures. According to this measure, the trends for the all phenomena tend to converge toward a universal trend for equalization, like the concept of globalization. Globalization has its adherent dynamics which force the whole system to equalization and developing a universal norm. In scientific term it means that an increase in global entropy. It is going to create an equivalent thermal death. There is another philosophical explanation that brings some hope that an open system, as our life system is, may not follow the entropy increasing direction. Chaos theory (I. Prigogine) explains chaotic moves keep a system away from reaching that equalization condition.    

With this perspective, S. Huntington’s “clash of civilizations and new world order” is rather philosophically described a natural phenomenon than posits just a hypothesis.   

Reason

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

Humans have long been curious to understand the principles which govern planets, ecosystem, society and individual interactions. Knowing the governing laws gives humans to foresee their future development. The enlightenment, intellectual movement marked the rise of the modern life in Europe of the 17th and 18th centuries, was the crucial era for evolving this human’s desire. It furnished appropriate ground on which ideas about individual capability, nature, and human rights were shaped in adherence to ideology of liberalism. Reason was used to explain phenomena and link between human and its environment. The enlightenment is credited for supporting revolutionary developments in art, religion, philosophy and politics. However, it would be safe to say that central to the enlightenment was the deification of reason.

Indeed, the enlightenment had its origin backed to the ancient Greeks. The ancient Greek philosophers embodied the idea of reason in their philosophies and promoted its application in their speculations. For them philosophy was the mother of sciences engulfing the essence of all human achievements. It is therefore natural to associate philosophy with elements of universal scientific developments.(G. Saridis) It is true that human, since then, with the use of philosophy and reasoning, has described phenomena, in form of speculations, divine laws or explaining empirical experiences.

Today, this trend still follows. We keep attempting to conceptualize better frameworks to explain phenomena and the governing laws with the help of both philosophy and scientific facts.