Pénuries

Pénuries is the French term used in economics and policy analysis to describe shortages—instances where the available supply of a good, service, or resource is insufficient to meet demand at prevailing prices. The concept applies across markets and can be temporary or systemic. Pénuries can arise in consumer goods, energy, housing, labor, or capital goods, and they may be regional or national in scope.

Causes include production disruptions, logistics bottlenecks, price controls or subsidies that distort incentives, export restrictions, natural disasters, and geopolitical conflicts. Demand shocks, such as rapid population growth, changing consumer preferences, or financial crises, can also generate pénuries. Structural factors like underinvestment in capacity or long investment cycles can lead to persistent shortages.

Impacts of pénuries include higher prices, inflationary pressure, rationing, and the emergence of black markets. They can reduce welfare, limit business investment, and provoke social or political tensions, particularly for households with lower incomes that spend a larger share of income on affected goods.

Measurement of pénuries relies on indicators such as stock levels, days of supply, price spikes, and frequency of stockouts in retail; it also uses survey-based measures of perceived shortages. Policy responses focus on increasing supply, reducing bottlenecks, and cushioning affected groups, through strategic reserves, subsidy adjustments, investment in infrastructure, procurement, and, when appropriate, temporary price controls or rationing.

See also: scarcity, shortage, supply chain disruption, inflation, rationing.