1. Market Failure
Where resources are inefficiently allocated due to imperfections in the working of the market mechanism
When markets do not provide us with the best outcome in terms of efficiency and fairness

2. Sources of Market Failure
Externalities
Merit and demerit Goods
Public Goods
Common access resources (‘tragedy of the commons’)
Asymmetric Information
Monopoly Power

3. Merit and Demerit Goods

4. Merit Goods Goods that are underprovided in a market economy.
The price mechanism allocates fewer resources to their production than is thought socially desirable.
Underproduced and underconsumed
Education and healthcare

5. 3 Reasons why there are underprovided
The social benefits are greater than the private benefits- the external benefits of healthcare are not considered when people choose to take medicine
Individuals may underestimate the private benefits (imperfect information)- for eg. The benefit of being vaccinnated against a disease (they may not know the chances of them catching the disease)
Private benefits may be discounted because benefits may be received in the future, rather than when they are paid for

6. Merit Goods
Price S1 P* P1 D1 D2 Q1 Q*
Quantity

7. Handout
Education and Training: What lessons should the government learn?
Answer the following questions
Explain how education is described as a merit good
What other market failures are associated with education?
How does the UK government try to overcome market failure associated with education?

8. Demerit Goods Goods that are overprovided in the market economy.
The price mechanism allocates more resources to their production than is thought socially desirable
Eg. Alcohol, drugs and cigarettes

9. Why are they overprovided?
The social costs of consumption exceed the private costs (negative externalities associated with their consumption)
Individuals may underestimate the private costs (imperfect information)- risk and future costs

10. Demerit Goods
Price S1 P1 P* D2 D1 Q* Q1
Quantity

11. Activity
ET- The Economics of Binge Drinking
h/w- q1-3
Q4-6

12. Answers Private and external costs and benefits of binge drinking
Factors which have led to an increase in demand for alcohol in recent year?

13. Answers
3. The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility: As the consumption of a good increases, the total utility derived from consumption of that good rises at a diminishing rate Eg. I have 3 watches , consuming a 4th watch would give me extra utility. If the price of the new watch is RM500, but I only gain RM 400 satisfaction, I would not buy it as it would be irrational to do so. With alcohol consumption, consumers do not conform to this rule governing rational behaviour. A 7th pint of beer may only yield utility less than the cost of the pint, thus a rational consumer would not consume the 7th pint (or continue beyond this point) Why? Alcohol distorts ‘rational’ decision making

15. Homework Due Mon 21st Feb
1. (a) Using at least one production possibility curve diagram, explain the concepts of scarcity, choice, opportunity cost and resource allocation. [10 marks]
(b) “The process of resource allocation is most efficiently carried out through the
free interaction of demand and supply. This means the provision of merit goods, such as health care and education, should always be left to market forces.”
Evaluate this statement. [15 marks]

16. Public Goods

17. Article and Questions What is meant by the ‘free rider problem’?
Explain the difference between a private and a public good
What is meant by a quasi- public good?
Why are public goods considered to be a type of market failure?
Why does the government provide public goods? (known as state provision)
Why is it difficult to decide on the quantity to produce?

18. Public Goods
Non-rivalrous- one person’s use of them does not deprive others from using them
Non- excludable- if one person consumes them it is impossible to restrict others from consuming them
Non- rejectable- individuals cannot abstain from their consumption even if they want to
Eg. National defence, street lighting
Non-excludability and Non- rejectability means no market can exist and provision must be made by the government

19. Answers
The price mechanism will not reveal the true level of consumers’ demand. The gov. in aiming to achieve the socially optimum level of output, has to estimate marginal social benefit.
It could do this by asking people the max they would be willing to pay to work out MPB, then have to estimate any MEB.

20. Merit Goods
In deciding the quantity of merit goods to provide, the gov. has to consider the extent to which consumers fail to appreciate their full private benefits, the positive externalities they create and the benefits poor people can get from their provision

21. Evaluating State Provision
Same as subsidies:
May help to improve the efficiency of resource allocation (increasing consumption of merit goods and goods with positive externalities)
Effectiveness of increasing consumption depends on PED (more elastic= more effective)
May support inefficient firms
Opportunity cost

22. Also… Cost of state provision v. expensive
Danger of inefficient production and waste enhanced if gov. run organisations because of the lack of profit motive
Governments may attempt to reduce risk of inefficiency by paying private firms to produce the service (PPPs)- controversial, reduced quality?
The effectiveness of state provision in increasing consumption is likely to be limited only by the resources available

23. NHS on a diagram?
When a good or service is free of charge, economic theory suggests that any consumer who gets any utility from it at all will choose to use it
Excess demand?

24. Question sheet- State Provision

25. PP- state provision

27. Monopoly Power

28. Market Failure Under Monopoly/ Imperfect Competition
One firm dominates the market (monopoly) or firms collude (oligopoly)
Restricting output and raising price (market power exists)
Thus ‘too little’ is being produced and consumed- allocation of resources is inefficient
Monopoly prices will normally be above those in competitive markets
Loss of consumer surplus (because price is above marginal cost)
Output of the monopolist is below the competitive level
Monopoly may waste scarce resources in maintaining their position
High levels of advertising and marketing designed to increase brand loyalty and build barriers to the entry of new firms (this is known as “rent-seeking behaviour”)

30. Simple monopoly diagram to show welfare loss
The Pure Monopolist
Imperfect markets restrict output and raise price in order to maximise profits (MC=MR)
Thus output is below the socially optimum level
There is a welfare loss to society-
Lost consumer surplus=
Lost producer surplus=
HL students need to refer back and provide more detail re. monopoly power in the exams/ IA
S= MSC PM
P= MC
D= MSB QM
Output MR

31. Features
Firms can do this because there are barriers to entering the market (difficult for new firms to enter the market and compete)- little/ no competition
Market power shifts the influence over the use and allocation of resources from consumers to producers
The government will often intervene to reduce market power through regulation- specifically competition policy
But Remember …. monopoly power can also bring economic benefits
Exploitation of economies of scale (lower unit costs)
Profits used to fund research and development – leading to a faster pace of innovation and gains in dynamic efficiency
Many monopolies face international competition and markets have become more contestable

32. Monopoly Power
Created through growth of the firm (internal) or merger/ takeover (external)
Monopoly power can be maintained through Barriers To Entry (barriers to new firms entering the market). Examples…?
A clearly differentiated product with brand loyalty
Economies of scale which result in low l/r ACs
Legal and Regulatory barriers
Ownership/control of key factors of production
Other barriers include; aggressive trading tactics, the threat of aggressive merger and takeover, ownership/control of retail outlets and intimidation.

33. Handout
Back to basics… Competition Policy
ET Sept 2003