Q.What is meant by artificial scarcity?

Artificial scarcity is a man-made shortage created by hoarding, so that prices rise and consumers are exploited.

Artificial scarcity is a form of consumer exploitation in which a shortage of goods is created deliberately, even though enough stock is actually available. It works as follows:

• Hoarding / withholding stock: traders store up goods and refuse to sell them at the current price.
• Creating a false shortage: because the goods disappear from the market, consumers believe there is a genuine scarcity.
• Raising prices: the reduced supply pushes prices up, and the trader then releases the goods at these higher, unfair prices. …