Market Economy

  

Categories: Econ

A market economy is one that’s run by the aggregate of individual consumers (and firms) looking to increase their own utility, rather than being planned out (i.e. a “planned economy”). Call it “market forces,” or the “invisible hand." These are the things that make a market economy a market economy.

Most countries have mixed economies, with some market economy parts and some planned economy parts. Even if you feel like you’re living in a market economy, you’re probably living in a mixed economy. Real life’s not an Ayn Rand novel. In the U.S., things like firefighters, social security, and public education are all aspects of our economy that are planned, even if most of the rest of our consumer lives are mostly a market economy.

Even if pure market economies aren’t really a thing in the real world, they’re often an underlying assumption in some basic economic models, so it’s good to understand that the market forces of self-interest, supply, and demand...are what make a market economy tick.

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Econ: What are Total Utility and Margina...4 Views

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And finance Allah shmoop what our total utility and marginal

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utility utility is in the eye of the beholder One

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person might see high utility in some delicious slices of

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pineapple pizza while another person only sees negative utility because

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they believe pineapple on pizza together are tantamount to blasphemy

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Well same goes with a nice car which has not

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only transport utility but social utility One person might decide

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they'll gain some much needed social points with a snazzy

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a set of wheels there while another person might be

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afraid they'd be you know beauty is a tool you

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know Been there done that A convertible might offer high

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utility around for someone living in Southern California and low

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utility for someone living in New York where they take

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the subway everywhere High quality socks for Christmas Yeah hi

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utility If that's just what you needed Maybe you can't

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get enough Willie socks or you collect socks with cool

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patterns and need a real hobby Quickly Low utility If

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you're a ten year old boy who was expecting something

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decent not not socks Yeah Sorry there pal How much

01:06

utility Something Khun give someone Depends on that person's needs

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and preferences utility even has its own standard measurement You

01:14

tools Yeah that's one standard utilities you don't well getting

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into the nitty gritty of utility We have marginal utility

01:20

and total utility Marginal utility is the UDA Lt's a

01:24

consumer games from consuming one more unit of a good

01:27

or service Those marginal yodels added up well Is Total

01:32

Utility III the total amount of utility gained from a

01:34

good or service So let's take popcorn Salty buttery movie

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theater popcorn you can't resist It's buttery goodness Plus you

01:42

don't go to the movies that off and you deserve

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this popcorn In general we decide to buy something when

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the march on the utility of a good or service

01:48

is greater than the marginal cost of it Well in

01:50

this case you're willing to pay that five bucks for

01:52

the popcorn because it's so worth it Yes all fourteen

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thousand calories in that bucket Will the first bite of

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popcorn is the most delicious Ah high marginal utility and

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it gets your taste buds watering and ready for more

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The second bite is great too as is the third

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and fourth Lots of you tells Eventually though you don't

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feel so good you just consumed more fake butter than

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you'd wish on your worst enemy All of a sudden

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you stopped eating the buttery deliciousness It's not worth a

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full blown a stomach ache in the eight thousand calories

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for the rest of the night So as you can

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see your demand for popcorn like your demand Kerr for

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most things is downward sloping The marginal value of that

02:30

in plus one piece of popcorn declines really fast when

02:34

marginal cost is greater than marginal utility while we stop

02:37

consuming additional marginal units of a good in this case

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the marginal cost of eating one more handful of popcorn

02:43

plus the money you already paid for it just isn't

02:45

worth the marginal benefit you'd get out of the next

02:48

hand Phil since well it'll make you feel worse overall

02:51

All right well if you're the kind of person who

02:52

does keep eating it well even though you're not enjoying

02:55

it anymore because you paid for it well that's falling

02:58

for the sunk cost Fallaci yet don't do that It

03:02

doesn't make sense to pay for negative marginal utility Just

03:06

take your net positive utility and walk away slowly right

03:10

that's the sunk cost already paid It sunk its guns

03:12

Nothing you can do about it ever to get it

03:14

back All right well this downward spiral of marginal utility

03:17

starting out high with first unit of consumption and finishing

03:20

low with the last unit of consumption is called the

03:23

law of diminishing marginal returns As we consume more and

03:27

more of a good or service are marginal utility from

03:29

each additional unit consumed gets less and less Each bite

03:33

is less enjoyable than the last While some goods and

03:36

services we consumer subject to diminishing marginal utility like food

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others can have constant or increasing marginal utility When people

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first became addicted to a social media platform it's likely

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their marginal utility was increasing which is why they started

03:51

using it more and more and more and more and

03:53

then became hooked And this is why we care about

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marginal utility It often changes as we consume more and

03:58

more of a certain good or service If you want

04:01

to know how and why people consumers a bit of

04:03

a good or service the way they do well take

04:05

a look at their marginal utility when we want to

04:08

take a step back and look at the big picture

04:09

of a good or service Yeah that's where total utility

04:12

comes in If you want to compare goods and services

04:15

against each other while you can compare their total utilities

04:18

for instance don't regret that bucket of popcorn Your total

04:22

utility from popcorn consumption was decidedly worth the cost Each

04:26

bit of marginal utility from each bite added to the

04:30

total utility of the entire popcorn experience So it was

04:33

a good overall net of everything to you if anything

04:37

Well you should regret that one colonel and you still

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have stuck in the back Your teeth there With any

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luck it'll come out by Tuesday All right that's enough 00:04:43.615 --> [endTime] You tools Ah

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