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Understanding Price System in Resource Allocation

Explore how the market system allocates goods and services through price rationing, market constraints, and alternative mechanisms. Learn about price floors, market efficiency, and the impact on consumer and producer surplus.

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Understanding Price System in Resource Allocation

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  1. Lecture 4 Demand and Supply Applications The Price System: Rationing and Allocating ResourcesPrice RationingConstraints on the Market and Alternative Rationing MechanismsPrices and the Allocation of ResourcesPrice FloorsSupply and Demand Analysis: An Oil Import Fee Supply and Demand and Market EfficiencyConsumer SurplusProducer SurplusCompetitive Markets Maximize the Sum of Producer and Consumer SurplusPotential Causes of DeadweightLoss from Under- and Overproduction

  2. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES price rationing The process by which the market system allocates goods and services to consumers when quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied.

  3. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES PRICE RATIONING FIGURE 4.1 The Market for Lobsters

  4. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES The adjustment of price is the rationing mechanism in free markets. Price rationing means that whenever there is a need to ration a good—that is, when a shortage exists—in a free market, the price of the good will rise until quantity supplied equals quantity demanded—that is, until the market clears.

  5. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES FIGURE 4.2 Market for a Rare Painting

  6. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES CONSTRAINTS ON THE MARKET AND ALTERNATIVE RATIONING MECHANISMS On occasion, both governments and private firms decide to use some mechanism other than the market system to ration an item for which there is excess demand at the current price. • Regardless of the rationale, two things are clear: • 1. Attempts to bypass price rationing in the market and to use alternative rationing devices are much more difficult and costly than they would seem at first glance. • 2. Very often, such attempts distribute costs and benefits among households in unintended ways.

  7. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES Oil, Gasoline, and OPEC price ceiling A maximum price that sellers may charge for a good, usually set by government. FIGURE 4.3 Excess Demand (Shortage) Created by a Price Ceiling

  8. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES queuing Waiting in line as a means of distributing goods and services: a nonprice rationing mechanism. favored customers Those who receive special treatment from dealers during situations of excess demand.

  9. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES ration coupons Tickets or coupons that entitle individuals to purchase a certain amount of a given product per month. black market A market in which illegal trading takes place at market-determined prices. Even when trading coupons is declared illegal, it is virtually impossible to stop black markets from developing. In a black market, illegal trading takes place at market-determined prices.

  10. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES NCAA March Madness: College Basketball’s National Championship FIGURE 4.4 Supply of and Demand for a Pair of Final Four Tickets in 2003

  11. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES PRICES AND THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES Thinking of the market system as a mechanism for allocating scarce goods and services among competing demanders is very revealing, but the market determines much more than just the distribution of final outputs. It also determines what gets produced and how resources are allocated among competing uses. Price changes resulting from shifts of demand in output markets cause profits to rise or fall. Profits attract capital; losses lead to disinvestment. Higher wages attract labor and encourage workers to acquire skills. At the core of the system, supply, demand, and prices in input and output markets determine the allocation of resources and the ultimate combinations of things produced.

  12. THE PRICE SYSTEM: RATIONINGAND ALLOCATING RESOURCES PRICE FLOORS price floor A minimum price below which exchange is not permitted. minimum wage A price floor set under the price of labor.

  13. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANALYSIS:AN OIL IMPORT FEE The basic logic of supply and demand is a powerful tool of analysis. FIGURE 4.5 The U.S. Market for Crude Oil, 1989

  14. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY CONSUMER SURPLUS consumer surplus The difference between the maximum amount a person is willing to pay for a good and its current market price.

  15. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY FIGURE 4.6 Market Demand and Consumer Surplus

  16. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY PRODUCER SURPLUS producer surplus The difference between the current market price and the full cost of production for the firm.

  17. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY FIGURE 4.7 Market Supply and Producer Surplus

  18. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY COMPETITIVE MARKETS MAXIMIZE THE SUM OF PRODUCER AND CONSUMER SURPLUS FIGURE 4.8 Total Producer and Consumer Surplus

  19. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY deadweight loss The net loss of producer and consumer surplus from underproduction or overproduction. FIGURE 4.9 Deadweight Loss

  20. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ANDMARKET EFFICIENCY POTENTIAL CAUSES OF DEADWEIGHT LOSS FROM UNDER- AND OVERPRODUCTION When supply and demand interact freely, competitive markets produce what people want at least cost, that is, they are efficient.

  21. REVIEW TERMS AND CONCEPTS • black market • consumer surplus • deadweight loss • favored customers • minimum wage • price ceiling price floor producer surplus price rationing queuing ration coupons

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