Many GP surgeries in Britain have moved from rationing by queueing (turn up and wait your turn, or phone to make an appointment) to rationing by triage (ring up and we will tell you whether you need to come in). Rationing by triage, as in battlefield or emergency medicine, when criteria are used to assess who is the most deserving recipient of scarce medicines or medical attention.Rationing by queueing, as at gas pumps in the US in the 1970s.If it becomes clear that non-price rationing is necessary, societies can learn from past experience wartime provides many of the most discussed examples, but there are others. The object of non-price rationing is not only to limit total consumption but also to distribute goods in the way which the market would not distribute them. In other words they practice rationing by means other than price. What happens when society decides collectively that it is not acceptable to have supplies dwindle, allows prices to rise and lets people scramble for what they need? Governments can build a floor under consumption, to secure basic needs at the bottom of the economy, and they often put a ceiling in place as well to conserve resources that would otherwise be consumed in excess by some. If there is a shortage of essential goods, and a portion of the population struggles even to meet minimum requirements, then rationing by price can create intolerable hardships. However willingness to pay can only be expressed by those with the ability to pay. That is said to provide maximum benefit to society, because the ways in which people spend their money reflect what they believe will increase their own well being. Prices direct resources towards more profitable uses by industry, and once industry has turned out commodities, prices ration the commodities among consumers. “Rationing by price”, or by “willingness to pay”, refers to the apportioning of goods through market forces, ie through changes in the market price of a scarce factor or product.
Economists, on the other hand, employ the term “rationing” to denote any means of apportioning goods and the resources used to make them such as raw materials, energy or labour. Stan Cox examines their advantages and drawbacks.įor many people, notably politicians, “rationing is a four-letter word”, never to be mentioned except in the context of the Second World War. There are many ways of rationing scarce resources.
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