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Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition
book

Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition

by Sean Masaki Flynn
October 2023
Beginner
432 pages
12h 13m
English
For Dummies
Audiobook available
Content preview from Economics For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 7

Why Economists Love Free Markets and Competition

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Measuring the social benefits of different output levels

Bullet Demonstrating that free markets maximize total surplus

Bullet Reducing total surplus with taxes and price controls

Bullet Producing at the lowest possible cost to society

Bullet Adjusting to changes in supply and demand

Economists love competitive free markets — markets in which numerous buyers freely interact with numerous competitive firms. Indeed, economists firmly believe that when competitive free markets work properly, they’re the best way to convert society’s limited resources into the goods and services that people want to buy. (Please note that, for brevity, I sometimes just say free markets or markets in this chapter rather than writing competitive free markets each time. I’m trying to maximize my resources here.)

Why do economists place such great confidence in competitive free markets? Because the interaction of supply and demand (which I discuss in Chapter 4 ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781394161331Purchase Link