Utopias

The many utopias designed by reformers, dreamers, and idealists have two things in common: they have no room for economics and they do not work in the real world.

The reason utopias do not need economics is they assume away the problem of scarcity. (Economists will tell you that it is also the reason they do not work in the real world.) Some of them take the "Star-Trek" approach and eliminate scarcity by assuming abundance. This approach envisions a technological society that is so advanced that all material needs and wants will be met. In the Star-Trek future this is done with the replicator and the holodeck. If one wants a cup of coffee or anything else, one merely goes up to the replicator, orders it, and it magically appears. The holodeck allows one to have any experience one wants. Because everything is abundantly available, there would be no need to buy or sell or work.¹ The most important example of the abundance approach to utopia is Marxism. Despite the denials of many of his followers, Karl Marx was utopian and did assume abundance.²

The alternative way to eliminate scarcity is the way of Buddha, which is to eliminate want. If a society could produce citizens who wanted only the bare necessities and who joyfully labored for a few hours each day, it could produce enough to meet all the wants and needs of its citizens. Thus there would be no need for buying or selling; people would just take what they needed. Examples of utopias based on this way of eliminating scarcity are those of Thomas More and B. F. Skinner.

Few economists worry about the abolition of scarcity and their resulting unemployment. There is so much poverty in the world today that visions of abundance seem far-fetched. In addition, people may be genetically wired to care about items that by their very nature can never be abundant, such as status. Not everyone can have high status, just as not everyone can be above average in height or intelligence. The mathematics of averages says that if some are above average, others must be below.

Next time you see a utopian vision of the future or you read a utopian novel, try to figure out which method was used to eliminate the problem of scarcity.