Market Values vs. Social Values: The Case of Newfoundland Gasoline Prices

1. Lecture 5 Market Values and Social Values Readings: Chapter 5

2. Recent Event • Several years ago, Newfoundland announced that gasoline prices would be regulated by the government. • The Newfoundland government judges that market prices are not meeting Newfoundland’s social objectives. • They believe regulated prices will serve the interests of Newfoundland society better than unregulated market prices.

3. What questions does this raise? • This action by the Newfoundland government is unusual. Most governments prefer to let the market determine the price for commodities. • Q: Why do governments usually prefer to leave market prices unregulated? • A: Competitive markets generate prices that lead to an efficient allocation of societies scarce resources.

4. What is efficiency? Economists understand efficiency to be a social outcome in which society’s scarce resources are used to produce the goods and services that people value the most. To find efficient social outcome recall marginal analysis.

5. How is an efficient social outcome found? • Marginal benefit • is the benefit that a person receives from consuming one more unit of a good or service. • Measured as the maximum amount that a person is willing to give up for one additional unit. • Principle of decreasing marginal benefit: • Marginal benefit decreases as consumption increases.

6. How is an efficient social outcome found? Marginal cost • is the opportunity cost of producing one more unit of a good or service. • Measured as the value of the best alternative forgone. Principle of increasing marginal cost: • Marginal cost increases as the quantity produced increases.

7. Efficiency and Inefficiency • To determine whether an outcome is efficient requires comparison of the marginal cost (MC) and marginal benefits (MB). • Resources are efficiently utilized when MB = MC • If MB>MC then increase output. • If MB<MC then decrease output.

8. Pizza valued more highly than it costs: Increase production Pizza costs more than it is valued: Decrease production Efficient quantity of pizza The Efficient Quantity of Pizza 25 MC 20 Marginal cost and marginal benefit (dollars worth of goods and services) 15 10 5 MB 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

9. How are value and price related? • For economists, thevalue of one more unit of a good or service is the same thing as its marginal benefit. • Marginal benefitcan be expressed as the maximum price people are willing to pay for an additional unit. • Willingness to pay determines demand.

10. Quantity of pizzas demanded at $15 a pizza Demand, Willingness to Pay, and Marginal Benefit Price determines quantity demanded 25 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 5 D 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

11. Maximum price willingly paid for the 10,000th pizza Demand, Willingness to Pay, and Marginal Benefit Quantity determines willingness to pay 25 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 5 D = MB 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

12. Do market prices reflect the total value of a good? Consumer surplus is the value of a good minus the price paid for it. • Most goods purchased in the market are valued more highly than the market price. • Most people pay less for the good than they value it, creating a consumer surplus.

13. Consumer surplus Lisa’s consumer surplus from the 10th pizza Market price Total benefit Amount paid A Consumer’s Demand and Consumer Surplus 2.50 2.00 1.50 Price (dollars per slice) 1.00 0.50 D 0 10 20 30 40 Quantity (slices of pizzas per week)

14. What is marginal cost? • The cost of producing one more unit of a good or service is its marginal cost. • For a firm, it is the marginal value of the resources used in the production of one more unit applied to the next best activity. • Therefore, the marginal cost is the minimum price required by producers to produce another unit of output.

15. What does Marginal Cost look like? • The supply curve in a competitive industry can also be interpreted as the curve which gives the minimum price required to produce a certain level of output. A supply curve is a marginal cost curve.

16. Quantity of pizzas supplied at $15 a pizza Supply, Minimum Supply Price, and Marginal Cost Price determines quantity supplied S 25 20 Price (dollars per pizza) 15 10 5 0 50 100 150 200 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

17. Minimum supply price for 10,000th pizza Supply, Minimum Supply Price, and Marginal Cost S = MC 25 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 Quantity determines minimum supply price 5 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

18. Producer Surplus Producer surplus is the value of a good minus the opportunity cost of producing it. If a firm sells something for more that it costs to produce, the firm obtains a producer surplus.

19. Max’s producer surplus from the 50th pizza Market price Producer surplus Total revenue Cost of production A Producer’s Supplyand Producer Surplus S = MC 25 20 Price (dollars per pizza) 15 10 5 0 50 100 150 200 Quantity (pizzas per day)

20. What does the market do? • We already know that markets produce equilibrium prices. • When demand exceeds supply, the price will increase • When demand is less than supply, the price will decrease • An equilibrium price emerges that determines what society produces, how much society produces, and who gets society’s product.

21. Consumer surplus Marginal cost (opportunity cost) of pizza Consumer’s expenditure = Producer’s revenue Marginal benefit (value) of pizza Producer surplus Efficient quantity of pizzas An Efficient Market for Pizza S 25 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 5 D 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

22. Resources are being used efficiently. Are market prices useful social values? At the competitive equilibrium, the marginal benefit to consumers of last unit purchased equals themarginal cost to producers of supplying that last unit.

23. Consumer surplus Marginal cost (opportunity cost) of pizza Marginal benefit (value) of pizza Producer surplus Efficient quantity of pizzas An Efficient Market for Pizza S = MC 25 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 5 D = MB 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

24. Why is this efficient? • At the competitive equilibrium, the sum of consumer surplus and producer surplus is maximized. • By maximizing this net benefit, the total benefit is maximized. • Any alternative application of society’s scarce resources would reduce the net benefit and hence the total benefit.

25. Reducing Resource Used in Pizza Production S 25 Net Loss 20 15 Price (dollars per pizza) 10 5 D 0 5 10 15 20 Quantity (thousands of pizzas per day)

26. The Invisible Hand Adam Smith first proposed the idea that competitive markets allocate resources efficiently in his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations. Each participant in a competitive market is “led by an invisible hand to promote an end [the efficient use of resources] which was no part of his intention.”

27. Implications • Competitive markets generally do a good job of efficiently allocating resources. • Governments (like Newfoundland) have, from time to time, intervened and impose different values. • In the next lecture we examine how governments can intervene to impose different values on the market and what the social implications of such intervention can be.