> RoMunn wrote: > And since Exxon is the only energy company in the world ... oh wait.
Market failure is a concept within economic theory wherein the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not efficient. Market failure can be viewed as a scenario in which individuals' pursuit of self-interest leads to unsatisfactory results for the society. In mainstream analysis, a market failure can occur for 3 main reasons: (1.) An agent in a market can gain market power, allowing them to block other mutually beneficial gains from trade from occurring. This can lead to inefficiency due to imperfect competition, which can take many different forms, such as monopolies, monopsonies, cartels, or monopolistic competition, if the agent does not implement perfect price discrimination. (2.) The actions of an agent can have externalities, which are innate to the methods of production, or other conditions important to the market. (3.) Some markets can fail due to the nature of certain goods, or the nature of their exchange. For instance, goods can display the attributes of public goods or common-pool resources, while markets may have significant transaction costs, agency problems, or informational asymmetry. In general, all of these situations can produce inefficiency, and a resulting market failure. -- What Judah is pointing out is that energy fails at market in not just one way, but in all 3. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:283308 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
