Mehta L (ed). 2011. Taking the scarce out of scarcity: Contesting the politics of allocation Earthscan, UK The summary below is from the Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN) newsletter:   This new book argues that the conventional and widespread opinion that people must compete for ever-decreasing food, water and energy is based on a false assumption – that needs and wants are unlimited and the means to achieve them are scarce. Yet this is the basic premise of modern economics and it has led, say the authors, to political strategies which:

1. justify controversial interventions such as nuclear energy and biotechnology;
2. perpetuate vested interests; and
3. keep poor people poor.

Using case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, India, Nepal and the United States among others, the contributors to ‘The Limits to Scarcity’ argue that markets respond to the buying power of the wealthy, with goods flowing to those who can afford them. It shows, for example, how promoting arguments about scarcity has led to: a one-size fits all approach to tackling soil-nutrient deficiency in Africa which has benefited the fertiliser industry but ignored local needs; a small group of vested interests growing rich from road construction contracts in Nepal, a country where ropeways are the locally preferred and more suitable option; policy-makers in India legitimising large-scale projects which leave the most marginalised people without access to new water sources; and the US energy policy in the George Bush era which legitimised the 'American Way of Life' and the expansion of US interests in the Middle East. The book seeks to demonstrate that a fixation with debates around overpopulation and depleting resources overlooks the need to focus attention on critical issues such as power relations, unequal gender relations, caste and ethnic discrimination.   For more information and to buy the book see here.