1.3 Market Failure Flashcards

1
Q

What is market failure?

A

The inefficient allocation of resources in the free market which leads to a loss of social welfare

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2
Q

What are the 3 types of market failure?

A
  1. Information gaps
  2. Under-provision of public goods
  3. Externalities
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3
Q

What is an externality?

A

A spillover effect from consumption or production on a third party (can be positive or negative)

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4
Q

What is a marginal private cost (MPC)?

A

The cost incurred by an individual (producer/firm) as part of the production of a good

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5
Q

What is a marginal private benefit (MPB)?

A

The extra satisfaction gained by an individual for consuming a good

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6
Q

What is MSB = MSC?

A

The social optimum level of production

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7
Q

What is a negative production externality?

A

When the production of a good/service has a harmful external impact on a third party (social costs are greater than private costs)

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8
Q

What is deadweight welfare loss?

A

A cost to society due to a reduction in economic efficiency when market is not in equilibrium (loss of consumer or producer surplus)

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9
Q

What are merit goods?

A

Goods/services which have positive consumption externalities but are often underproduced by the free market

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10
Q

What are demerit goods?

A

Goods/services with negative externalities that are often overproduced by the free market and consumed to a greater extent than considered socially desirable

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11
Q

What are indirect taxes?

A

A tax imposed by the government that increases the supply cost of producers, aims to decrease the supply of a good or service

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12
Q

How does an indirect tax solve externalities?

A

The cost of the externality is internalised, moving production closer to the social optimum

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13
Q

What are 3 drawbacks of indirect tax to solve externalities?

A
  • Difficult to measure externality
  • Regressive
  • Opportunity/enforcement costs
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14
Q

What is cap and trade?

A

A market based policy in which the government sets a ‘cap’ on carbon emissions and firms are given permits to pollute which can be traded or sold to other firms

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15
Q

Why is the supply of carbon permits inelastic and what is the effect?

A

Government increases the scarcity of permits resulting in an increase in price. This makes it more expensive for firms to gain permits, discouraging them from polluting

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16
Q

What are 2 advantages of cap and trade?

A
  • Encourages investment in green technology
  • Does not deter future investment: it is a gradual reduction
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17
Q

What are 2 disadvantages of cap and trade?

A
  • Political favouritism: governments likely to distribute more permits to companies with national significance
  • Setting correct cap is complex: too high=limited effect on pollutants, too low=permits expensive for smaller businesses
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18
Q

What is regulation?

A

A set of rules, normally imposed by government that firms must follow in order to modify their behaviour

19
Q

What are 2 advantages of regulation?

A
  • Can be gradually toughened/implemented over time
  • Theoretically ‘cheaper and simpler’ to implement
20
Q

What are 3 disadvantages of regulation?

A
  • High enforcement and opportunity costs
  • Unintended consequences e.g black markets, smuggling
  • Deters future investment
21
Q

What is nationalisation?

A

The transfer of an industry from private to public ownership and the government begins to provide the good/service

22
Q

What are 2 benefits of nationalisation?

A
  • Better coordination with the central plan or strategy
  • State can monitor externalities easily: can reduce negative externalities and increase positive externalies
23
Q

What are the alternative interventions to increase the production/consumption of merit goods?

A
  1. Legislation
  2. Advertising/Information
  3. Direct Provisioning
24
Q

What is good information?

A

When the buyer and seller both have full knowledge of the price, benefits and costs of a good

25
What is symmetric information?
When both parties in a transaction have access to the same, complete and accurate information
26
What are information gaps?
When the buyer or the seller does not have access to the information to make a fully-informed decision
27
What is asymmetric information?
When one party has superior information compared to another
28
What are 4 causes of information gaps?
- Addiction/Habits - Asymmetry - Poor knowledge of long-term impacts - Framing (decisions based on the way information presented rather than facts)
29
How does poor information lead to the misallocation of resources?
Leads to poor decisions and therefore consumer demand or producer supply of the good/service being too high (thus price and quantity are not at social optimum)
30
What is moral hazard?
When a party has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs associated with that risk e.g doctors/dentists, insurance
31
What is information provisioning?
Directly supplying information to consumers or requiring producers to do so e.g nutrition labels, cigarette packaging
32
What are 2 problems with information provisioning?
- **Issues when provided by government:** from what sources?, opportunity cost of collecting and publishing - **Issues when provided by firms:** may provide information that is difficult to understand e.g chemical instead of common names (lack of transparency)
33
What are 2 ways to solve information failure?
**- Regulation:** laws requiring businesses to disclose information e.g labeling requirements **- Licensing:** schemes to ensure trained professionals act according to standard
34
What are 2 problems with licensing?
- Limits the supply of workers - Controls competence not morality
35
Draw: Positive consumption externality
36
Describe the free rider problem
- Consumers realise they can access goods without paying (non-excludable) - Individuals who benefit from a public good/service without contributing to the cost of providing it - Private firms will will not produce good as there is no profit incentive (under-provision) - The good/service will be provided by government
37
What are public goods?
Goods that are beneficial to society but are under provided in the free market
38
What are 2 features of public goods?
- Non-rivalry: goods that can be consumed by multiple people without reducing the amount available for others - Non-excludable: goods that cannot exclude a certain person or group of persons from using them
39
What are private goods?
Goods that firms are able to provide to generate profits (excludable and rivalrous)
40
What makes a good excludable?
- The price mechanism, as some customers cannot afford to buy the good/service
41
What makes a good rivalrous?
Consumers compete for goods which are limited in supply (this rivalry helps to generate profits for firms)
42
How does imperfect market information may lead to a misallocation of resources
- Consumers do not buy things that maximise their welfare - Demand for a good/supply of a good may be too high or too low - Price and quantity are not at the social optimum position
43
EVAL for correcting externality (e.g subsidies, max/min price, regulation, state provision)
- Depends on government correctly identifying socially optimum level - Intervention may lead to under/overestimations of optimum level = welfare loss will still remain