Abstract

Economics is about satisfying competing human wants, within the limits set by scarce resources. The wants, ranging from physiological necessities to transient psychological desires, are embodied in demand – a relationship between amounts consumed and price willingly paid. The limited resources determine supply – a relationship between offered price and amounts willingly provided. Demand and supply interact in markets, which tend towards an equilibrium in which amounts provided and consumed are roughly equal. However, because of landscape’s nature as a publicly provided and involuntarily experienced service, demand and supply also interact in alternative means of allocating scarce resources, such as political debate, pressuring and trade-off.