What's the difference between SCARCE and RARE?

Question

For an economics homework task... A Level standard

Answer 1

nothing it means the same thing

Answer 2

Scarce is contextual, scarce in the market at the present time.

Rare is non-contextual, it's like scarce everywhere, all the time.

In Economics, the difference will come in terms of price fluctuations; scarce items may not be so in the future, so you will find the prices fluctuating a lot. Think of a long time ago when most agricultural produce were seasonal, their prices varied a lot because they were scarce at some point in the year, then be case plentiful at others, with accompanying high and low prices.

Rare products would have less fluctuations in prices, likely to have a constantly increasing price. Definitely less fluctuations. It's not a bad idea to invest in rare durable items, but not that good an idea to invest in scarce ones.

Scarcity has given birth to the futures market, rarity is linked with long term investment.

Answer 3

Well, so far nobody has even managed to answer what scarce is in economics.

Economically speaking, goods are scarce if they are in finite quantity. ie: their supply is finite. Just about anything you can think of is a scarce good. Perhaps the most often referenced good that is not scarce is the air you breathe.

It should be made clear that scarcity in no way implies a shortage (a quantity of goods below market clearing equilibrium).

As far as a rare good is concerned, I would have to see it in context. My intuition is scarce and rare may be used interchangably -I've never seen it, but... The standard definition may apply as well.

Answer 4

scarce
–adjective 1. insufficient to satisfy the need or demand; not abundant: Meat and butter were scarce during the war.
2. seldom met with; rare: a scarce book.
–adverb 3. scarcely.
—Idiom4. make oneself scarce, Informal. a. to depart, esp. suddenly.
b. to stay away; avoid.

—Synonyms 1. deficient. 2. uncommon, infrequent.
—Antonyms 1. abundant.

rare1
–adjective, rar‧er, rar‧est. 1. coming or occurring far apart in time; unusual; uncommon: a rare disease; His visits are rare occasions.
2. thinly distributed over an area; few and widely separated: Lighthouses are rare on that part of the coast.
3. having the component parts not closely compacted together; not dense: rare gases; lightheaded from the rare mountain air.
4. unusually great: a rare display of courage.
5. unusually excellent; admirable; fine: She showed rare tact in inviting them.
—Synonyms 1. exceptional, extraordinary, singular. 2. sparse, infrequent. 5. choice, incomparable, inimitable.
—Antonyms 1. common. 2. frequent. 5. inferior.

Answer 5

I think this is semantics, so rare would mean there are very little of something quite precious or of meaning, whereas scarce would be very little of something too but, of less value or importance. A simplistic example being wild tigers are rare but buses after ten at night are scarce.

Hope this helps! I think to some people its splitting hairs but its just to clarify a definition of something depending on how special it is

Answer 6

Scarce, you can find with a little effort in searching, Rare, you will have to search hard for ... i.e. a 1956 nickle is scarce, a roman coin for 3 AD is rare

Answer 7

Scarce could mean there once was a lot of #noun# and now there is only a small amount left. Such as natural gas.

Rare most likely refers to something that was never was a lot of #noun# and still is strongly uncommon to find/see. Such as a fly in Amber surviving to our time.

Answer 8

Scarce = barely available (yet still around)
Rare = one in a million

Pretty much they're about the same

Answer 9

in economic terms, if something is scarce, it means there are not enough resources of it to satisfy everybody's needs and wants. as wants are unlimited (we always want more), it would be impossible to satisfy everybody's wants. therefore everything is scarce. if something is rare, it is hard to find, and extremely uncommon. somethings are rare, everything is scarce

Answer 10

I would say that scarce is hard to find because maybe the object is rare.

Answer 11

For something to be scarce it means there had to be plenty of it at one time. Rare means hardly ever seen before or heard of , meaning at no time was it ever plentiful.