Are We Running Out of Resources?

Prof. Steve Horwitz addresses the common belief that the world is running out of natural resources. Instead, there are economic reasons why we will never run out of many resources. In a free market system, prices signal scarcity. So as a resource becomes more scarce, it becomes more expensive, which incentivizes people to use less of it and develop new alternatives, or to find new reserves of that resource that were previously unknown or unprofitable. We have seen throughout history that the human mind's ability to innovate, coupled with a free market economic system, is an unlimited resource that can overcome the limitations we perceive with natural resources.

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[BrotherAtticus]

Agreed, but Julian Simon is THE preeminent figure on the topic of resource economics. It's like discussing Christianity without one mention of Jesus.

[FurryMurry7]

Ah. I never thought of it like that before. This was a nice conversation. Thanks, buddy! :)

[LucisFerre1]

The incidence of cancer being diagnosed is increasing. Cancer deaths is decreasing because of early detection and better treatment. Also people are living longer today, long enough to possibly die of cancer when they get older instead of dying young from the chicken pox or flu. Obesity is a side effect of being in a land of plenty, and again, psychiatric illnesses being diagnosed is increasing. That doesn't mean that there are more mentally ill people nowadays.

[FurryMurry7]

I watched the video. It was both informative and entertaining!

But the question is: if food is MORE healthy now than it was 200 years ago, why are there so many health problems that simply didn't exist back then? I understand that in modern America, people live longer, and don't suffer from diseases like polio and rubella like they used to.

But it seems that we now have a whole array of new problems on a country-wide scale, from cancers to obesity to the various psychiatric illnesses.

[LucisFerre1]

Yup, the "poor" in America, i.e. those in the bottom quintile (20%) of income earners are significantly more likely to be obese and smoke than everyone else. I was referring to the 'food isn't nutritious' jazz. Everything processed is fortified nowadays. People used to acquire vitamin deficiency diseases quite often. It's almost a thing of the past now. Here's a fascinating program, Connections2 with James Burke talking about just this.

/watch?v=Aif3q1zqkuU

[FurryMurry7]

I think he's referring to the obesity epidemic in America. In 1776, the percentage of overweight Americans was DRASTICALLY lower than the percentage of overweight Americans today.

And this isn't just in America. In 2010, the Public Health Association of Australia stated that obesity has overtaken smoking as the number one cause of premature death and illness.

The article is at: bit [dot] ly/12EUxhY

[LucisFerre1]

Time for you to hug a tree.

[LucisFerre1]

[[It is true that less people are "hungry" now, but ironically, more people are obese, and our food is far less nourishing and possibly poisionous]]

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That's utter nonsense.

[LucisFerre1]

That's not a problem with oil extraction from sand. That's a problem with releasing polluting waste products (assuming your description is correct).