What term describes the condition of having limited quantities to meet unlimited wants?

• A. Abundance
• B. Scarcity
• C. Insufficiency
• D. Surplus

Answer: (B)

Scarcity describes the condition where resources like time, money, and materials are limited while people’s wants and needs are unlimited. This mismatch is what forces people and societies to make choices about what to produce, how to produce it, and who gets it, since there isn’t enough to satisfy every desire. When you decide to use a resource for one option, you give up using it for another—that trade-off is the essence of scarcity and leads to opportunity costs.

Abundance would be the opposite, with plenty of resources. A surplus means more than is needed, which isn’t the general situation described. Insufficiency isn’t the standard term used to describe the broad idea of limited resources relative to infinite wants. So, the term that best fits is scarcity.