Well many things can be argued here, however i will try to be very brief...
It depends on a country's system of interest. Of course what i'm giving you an example of explicitly deals with socialism. Here you usually don't create the mindset for scarce resource in your people. I wont deny the fact that population plays a pivotal role. When there is supply, there is demand. But even if we have to take this into consideration, what really is another ideal world out there. Should we be like Communist China, that makes its people work into like machines (leaving individual choice of life aside) Or should we be like American Capitalists (free market) that creates disparity among community in a sense where you have a guy having monopolies and the other that has his/her house prone to foreclosure...