Scarcity can be used to describe an economic situation in economics, or it can be used to describe more general situations. In economics, scarcity is the result of people having "Unlimited Wants and Needs," or always wanting something new, and having "Limited Resources."

Scarcity is a measure of supply. If strawberries are scarce, then the supply of strawberries is low. And if many people want to buy strawberries when none are available, then demand is high because of a low supply caused by scarcity.

In microeconomics, scarcity refers to the idea that resources are limited. It applies to physical resources like land, water, and oil, as well as intangible resources like time, skills, and attention. We have to make choices about how to allocate those resources.

Explain that scarcity is not being able to have all of the goods or services you want. If good and services is too advanced, depending on their vocabulary level, substitute goods and services for things.