In correspondence with a right-wing libertarian, he mentioned that he would defend 'til the cows come home the proposition that "human wants and desires are unlimited."

I corrected him, pointing out that wants and desires could only be unlimited _in principle_. To assert that they are actually unlimited ignores the basic condition that each desire must have a duration.

But it got me to thinking that I usually hear that trite piece of economic wisdom in pretty much the vulgar form my interlocuter presented it.

So my question is: do economic textbooks usually/always/seldom make the in principle distinction? Is there a "canonical" statement of this proposition?

The Sandwichman


Find your next car at Yahoo! Canada Autos

Reply via email to