<p>Whenever you choose something, you choose against something else. If there was nothing to be lost, the choice would be trivial.</p>

<p>In other words, there is only no scarcity to choosing when there is no real choice.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-26T01:16:38.323Z
2015-02-26T01:16:38.323Z
FooBar
<p>Choice to ignore, or to upvote, or to downvote a social media post, or a question on, say, stackexchange, is not necessitated by scarcity.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-02T14:23:46.147Z
2020-05-02T14:23:46.147Z
Madhur
<p>The basic idea behind scarcity and opportunity cost is fundamental to economics. Basically, if resources are infinite, you have everything.</p>

<p>In my opinion, there are no infinite resources because a lifetime is finite. In one way or another, it can be argued all choices are necessitated by scarcity.</p>

<p>Eating chips means at that time, you cant be eating a burger. That is your opportunity cost.</p>

<p>This may be the point of your homework question, to make you realise that scarcity is a key driving force behind decision making.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-26T02:48:25.403Z
Even if a lifetime is infinite, your capacity to do something in a unit time is finite!
serakfalcon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-25T22:54:19.920Z
2015-02-25T22:54:19.920Z
Jamzy
<p>I am first year economics student and for the past month we have had it constantly drilled into us that all choices have an opportunity cost and thus they are all necessitated by scarcity. Thus when I saw this quesiton in my homework I was baffled. </p>

<p>I don't need an exact answer to this, but a hint would be great. My current line of thinking is leaning towards infinite resources like the sun, but I simply can't work it out. Thanks.</p>

<microeconomics><choice-theory>
What is an example of a choice which is not necessitated by scarcity?
entropy
# What is an example of a choice which is not necessitated by scarcity?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-25)

I am first year economics student and for the past month we have had it constantly drilled into us that all choices have an opportunity cost and thus they are all necessitated by scarcity. Thus when I saw this quesiton in my homework I was baffled.

I don't need an exact answer to this, but a hint would be great. My current line of thinking is leaning towards infinite resources like the sun, but I simply can't work it out. Thanks.

**Tags:** microeconomics, choice-theory

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-02-25. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

The basic idea behind scarcity and opportunity cost is fundamental to economics. Basically, if resources are infinite, you have everything.

In my opinion, there are no infinite resources because a lifetime is finite. In one way or another, it can be argued all choices are necessitated by scarcity.

Eating chips means at that time, you cant be eating a burger. That is your opportunity cost.

This may be the point of your homework question, to make you realise that scarcity is a key driving force behind decision making.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Even if a lifetime is infinite, your capacity to do something in a unit time is finite!  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2015-02-26. Score: 1

Whenever you choose something, you choose against something else. If there was nothing to be lost, the choice would be trivial.

In other words, there is only no scarcity to choosing when there is no real choice.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2020-05-02. Score: 0

Choice to ignore, or to upvote, or to downvote a social media post, or a question on, say, stackexchange, is not necessitated by scarcity.


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