A thorough investigation shows that demand curves slope downwards
With thanks to Greg Barkimer, who saw this and knew it was gold. Here is an actual headline, seriously, in the New York Times:
“Bird Flu Sends Egg Prices Up, but Slowing Demand Prevents Shortages.”
Well… yes. How economically illiterate would you have to be to write that headline? Answer: illiterate enough to work for the New York Times.
This is on the order of “Water: Still Wet!” or “That Crazy Sun: Rising in the East Again This Morning.”
There can never, never be a shortage if prices are free to adjust, because a shortage is insufficient quantity supplied for quantity demanded at current prices.
Lagniappe: This was in the “Science” section. Yes, it was.
