What does "a shortage" mean in supply and demand? I don't understand, because it seems to mean "we want to pay less but then we won't find any people". Well, in that case, there's a shortage of Ferraris, because the ones I can find are too expensive.
In economics you can’t have a shortage in a perfect market as you note. Of course most (all?) markets are imperfect so various factors can cause shortages (eg rent controls is a common example). For labor markets imperfect mobility can cause a shortage.
In common use it means that something costs more than many people are willing to pay for it. So your Ferrari example would be a valid use under this meaning.
"Shortage" means that even if you payed absurdly high prices you will not get any/not enough, though you would immediately be willing to pay that price.
> A shortage is when people can't obtain something they need.
I need a private jet. I can not obtain one. Does that mean there is a shortage of private jets? Maybe I can insist that there's a shortage of private jets "at a reasonable price?"
Yea, it's an emotional concept that seems to mean things cost more than somebody was expecting. You could say there's a shortage of anything you like, so it's a meaningless word. There's a shortage of helicopters because lots of people want them but don't want to pay the high price they currently have. There's a shortage of petrol because if it was much cheaper, I'd be running a generator to power my house. I want that cheap petrol but there isn't enough for the price to be so low.
"A shortage, in economic terms, is a condition where the quantity demanded is greater than the quantity supplied at the market price." https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortage.asp sounds like it fits the situation to me.
> Can we not simply say a shortage is when there's not enough of something.
More or less, but "how much is needed" is dependent on price. You need an infinite number of truck drivers if they are driving for free. And you need no truck drivers if they are driving for $100,000,000,000 per day.
In a functioning market, price will rise until you have exactly the right number of truck drivers. Remember that the dreamers not willing to pay the price are simply not in the market. You don't have a shortage of Ferraris when 10 year old boys with Ferrari posters on their walls can't have the real thing.
However, if something stops the price from rising – such the government stepping in and saying: "It is now illegal to pay truck drivers more than $30,000 per year" – then you have a disconnect. The market wants more drivers and are willing to pay more to get them, but are not allowed to pay them more. That disconnect is what the shortage defines.
Technically, a shortage is defined as a situation where price is unable to rise due to an external mechanism, such as government setting a price ceiling. As long as you have an opportunity to pay more, there cannot be a shortage. Rather demand for the given product/service shrinks.
> There is no such thing as "shortage" of anything. Just pay more, and you'll get it.
There is. We didn't create the word to have no meaning. However, it is not defined the way many people seem to think it is or the way you are suggesting. The formal definition of shortage is a situation where an external mechanism prevents price from rising. External mechanisms can include government intervention, which is not completely unheard of. Medical doctors, for example, have a government-mandated price ceiling in the jurisdiction in which I reside. You legally cannot pay more to take the services of a doctor away from someone else. However, such circumstances are indeed rare, especially when it comes to the price of labour-based activities.
To put it another way: A shortage is a situation where you cannot pay more, even if you had all the money in the world to spend on what you seek.
That's an economic definition. A more common understanding of shortage includes conditions where the price rises beyond what I can afford. If I can't afford beef at $10/lb but the supply of beef commands that price, I will perceive that as a "shortage"
Quick refresher on what the word "shortage" actually means.
SHORTAGE: Below market rent-controls. If more people want housing than there are apartments, and the price can't adjust, that's a shortage.
SHORTAGE: An oil supply shock as in the 1970s, and gas stations choose to ration fuel rather than profiteering by jacking up prices. More people want gas at that price point than there is gas. That's a shortage.
NOT A SHORTAGE: The lack of first-class flights from London to Chicago for $1,000. That ain't a shortage, it's a market-clearing price I don't want to pay.
I like the BCG quote: "Trying to hire high-skilled workers at rock-bottom rates is not a skills gap."
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