2.6 Markets and Improved Efficiency2
In a world of scarcity, competition is inescapable. One method of allocating resources among competing uses is the market economy. The market economy provides a way for millions of producers and consumers to allocate scarce resources.
For the most part, markets are efficient. To an economist, efficiency is achieved when the economy gets the most out of its scarce resources.
Competitive markets are powerful—buyers’ collective “voice” can make existing products better and/or less expensive, they can improve production processes, and they can create new products. Market prices serve as the language of the market system.
Markets may not always lead to your desired tastes and preferences. Markets do not come with a moral compass; they simply provide what buyers are willing and able to pay for and what sellers are willing and able to produce.
Market prices communicate important information to both consumers and suppliers. Prices communicate information about the relative availability of products to consumers, and they provide suppliers with critical information about the relative value that consumers place on those products.
The basis of a market economy is voluntary exchange and the price system that guides people’s choices and produces solutions to the questions of what goods to produce and how to produce and distribute them (example: a pencil).
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