IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/27940.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The limitations of markets: Background essay

Author

Listed:
  • Goodwin, Neva

Abstract

Business leaders and voting citizens as well as policy makers are influenced in their decision-making by the idea that a “perfectly free” market can produce a social optimum (a “best of all possible worlds”). Because this idea is so influential, it is important to understand the conditions that must be met for the theory to work. The theoretic prediction of the optimality of market outcomes presupposes a number of requirements, which can be grouped into three broad categories: (1) the assumption of perfectly functioning markets; (2) market-oriented patterns of motivation and behavior, on the part of both individuals and firms; and (3) the universal existence and scope of markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Goodwin, Neva, 2005. "The limitations of markets: Background essay," MPRA Paper 27940, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:27940
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/27940/1/MPRA_paper_27940.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William E. Kovacic & Carl Shapiro, 2000. "Antitrust Policy: A Century of Economic and Legal Thinking," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 43-60, Winter.
    2. Jonathan B. Baker, 1999. "Policy Watch: Developments in Antitrust Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 181-194, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Goodwin, Neva, 2010. "A New Economics for the 21st Century," MPRA Paper 27907, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Reksulak & William F. Shughart & Robert D. Tollison, 2008. "Innovation and the opportunity cost of monopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 619-627.
    2. Ho, Vivian & Hamilton, Barton H., 2000. "Hospital mergers and acquisitions: does market consolidation harm patients?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 767-791, September.
    3. Andrey V. Makarov, 2014. "Comparative Analusis Of Antitrust Policy Against Collusion In Some Transition Economies: Challenges For Effectiveness," HSE Working papers WP BRP 20/PA/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Joshua D. Wright, 2010. "The Chicago School, Transaction Cost Economics, and Antitrust," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 23, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Adrien de Hauteclocque & Jean-Michel Glachant, 2011. "Long-term Contracts and Competition Policy in European Energy Markets," Chapters, in: Jean-Michel Glachant & Dominique Finon & Adrien de Hauteclocque (ed.), Competition, Contracts and Electricity Markets, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. William E. Kovacic & Carl Shapiro, 2000. "Antitrust Policy: A Century of Economic and Legal Thinking," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 43-60, Winter.
    7. Stefania-Cristina Curea & Eduard Dinu & Paul Prisecaru, 2017. "The Analysis of the Correlation between the Degree of Market Concentration and the Level of Consumer Protection," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(45), pages 339-339, May.
    8. Ohanian, Lee E., 2009. "What - or who - started the great depression?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(6), pages 2310-2335, November.
    9. Litan, Robert E. & Shapiro, Carl, 2001. "Antitrust Policy During the Clinton Administration," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series qt45r5r72p, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    10. Oliver Budzinski & Isabel Ruhmer, 2010. "Merger Simulation In Competition Policy: A Survey," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 277-319.
    11. Richard B. Baker & Carola Frydman & Eric Hilt, 2023. "Political Discretion and Antitrust Policy: Evidence from the Assassination of President McKinley," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 837-873.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1op860fg2l8f4p3acvk2hj0tmn is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Elizabeth Bailey, 2015. "Behavioral Economics and U.S. Antitrust Policy," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(3), pages 355-366, November.
    14. John Mayo & Mirjam Schiffer, 2006. "Antitrust Economics Meets Antitrust Psychology: A View from the Firms," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 281-306.
    15. Büthe, Tim & Morgan, Stephen, 2015. "Antitrust Enforcement and Foreign Competition: Special Interest Theory Reconsidered," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205607, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Marc Deschamps, 2013. "Pourquoi des politiques de concurrence ?," GREDEG Working Papers 2013-23, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    17. Bougette, Patrice & Deschamps, Marc & Marty, Frã‰Dã‰Ric, 2015. "When Economics Met Antitrust: The Second Chicago School and the Economization of Antitrust Law," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 313-353, June.
    18. Hüschelrath, Kai, 2008. "Is it Worth all the Trouble? The Costs and Benefits of Antitrust Enforcement," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-107, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Christiansen Arndt, 2011. "Entscheidungen zum Europäischen Kartellrecht: Zu der gleichnamigen von Jörg Karenfort und Andreas Weitbrecht herausgegebenen Entscheidungssammlung," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 62(1), pages 566-573, January.
    20. James Dalton & Louis Esposito, 2011. "Standard Oil and Predatory Pricing: Myth Paralleling Fact," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 38(3), pages 245-266, May.
    21. Luke Garrod & Bruce Lyons, 2011. "Early Settlement and Errors in Merger Control," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2011-05, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

    More about this item

    Keywords

    optimality; market imperfections; public goods; externalities; transaction costs; market power; human needs; equity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:27940. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.