The Market Mechanism - Operation and characteristics of the Price System.

The Market Mechanism

Operation and characteristics of the Price System

In the market sector of the economy the actions of numerous persons, making their own decisions in the light of information available and relevant to them, determine what shall be produced, how it will be produced and who will get the product. The solution is reached through the operation of prices , not only the prices of consumers’ goods and services, but also the prices of producers’ goods of all kinds, the price of land (which can be regarded as a particular kind of durable good, and the price of labour. In other words the price system embraces both the products and the factors of production. Prices serve a number of functions, all closely interconnected.

Firstly, they act as a rationing mechanism for the scarce products and recourses available. They ration consumers’ goods in such a way that each household is able to obtain that combination of good and services which, within its budget limitations (an important qualification about which we shall have more to say later), enables it to maximise its satisfaction (or , more accurately, expected satisfaction). This assertion becomes clearer by reference to the alternative, physical rationing, where each person irrespective of tastes receives the same physical quantity of a good. With physical rationing, if I like eggs but detest bacon I nonetheless receive my allocated quantity of each, no more no less. I might manage to find someone whose tastes were the exact reverse of mine, but Jack Spratt and his wife were exceptional, and to succeed in my quest requires on abnormal amount of good luck and an entirely disproportionate amount of time. Further, the wider the range and variety of products available, the less satisfactory is a physical rationing system.

Prices ration the scarce factors of production as well as products. Just as the prices of consumers’ goods serve to distribute them in accordance with the relative preferences of consumers, so the prices of factors of production help to ensure that they are used in the production of those goods preferred by consumers (a point which links up with the third aspect of the price system below).

Secondly, prices act as signals and guides to firms about what should be produced in the future. If consumers wish to consume more of a particular commodity then its price will tend to rise. This indicates to firms that more should be produced; at the same time it provides and incentive for more factors of production to move into that line of production. Firms making the good will be earning high profits. They will wish to expand output. To obtain more of the new materials, machinery and workers wanted they will be prepared to offer higher prices and thus more resources will be drawn to this line of production to meet the increase in demand. In the process we see the operation of what to Adam Smith was like and ‘invisible hand’ by which individuals, following their own self interest, were ipso facto, led to pursue the interests of the community.

The validity of ‘consumers’ sovereignty’ has sometimes been questioned. It certainly does not imply that consumers initiate new products. Such innovation rests with producers. But, unless consumers are prepared to accept what producers provide, at prices which cover costs of production, then production of that food will cease. In other words, consumer’ determine what is produced in the since that they exercise a continuous right of veto.

Thirdly, the price system acts as a guide to the organization of production. If the price of a particular factor of production rises (e.g. a raw material which has become scarce) this is a sign to producers to use that factor more economically. Each entrepreneur faces a number of possible ways of producing a given level of output; he will usually be able to vary his input mix of factors of production quite considerably. When one factor of production rises in price relatively to the others he will seek to substitute other factors for that which has risen in price in order to produce any particular level of output at minimum cost. This way the entrepreneur maximises his profit. At the same time his action helps to ensure that this particularly scare factor will be left for use in those products where substitution is costly or impossible.

Expressed in a slightly different way, the price system can be said to do five things: it provides information about people’s preferences; it allocates men, machines, land, buildings and other resources in accordance with these preferences; it influences decisions on which production techniques to use; it creates incentives to avoid unnecessarily costly methods, to invest, to develop new technologies and products; and perhaps most important of all, it coordinates the desires of millions of individuals, firms and households.

At its best the price system enables the economic problem to be solved in a way which combines efficiency and freedom. Efficiency, because the profit motive promotes enterprise; because movements in the relative prices of the factors of production stimulate entrepreneurs to economize in the use of scare factors. Freedom, because the price system is a remarkable device for dispersing economic decision-making and therefore economic power; because individuals are free to choose what goods they want and to work where they want.

In fact, although these points contain a vital component of truth, this picture of the price ...

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In fact, although these points contain a vital component of truth, this picture of the price system is somewhat idealized; the uncontrolled price system does not always work as perfectly as we have described; moreover it has inherent limitations and some positive disadvantages. To these we now turn.

Limitations and Defects of the Market System

The market mechanism is unable to cope with the supply of those goods or services where the benefit it diffuse or indiscriminate. These are ‘goods’ such as defence or the services of the police force. Individuals purchasing in the market cannot buy their own quota of defence forces or of police protection; for this they need some sort of communal or political organisation. These are the kind of goods which we define as ‘pure public goods’.
The uncontrolled price system does not take account of externality or spill over effects. The purchase of a good in the market may have spill-over detriments or benefits for other consumers. Similarly a producer may use resources in such a way as to cause detriment or benefit to others. Thus the heavy drinker may cause additional work for the police and put up the costs of police services and annoy other people by his noisy behaviour. A producer may cause detriment to others by using processes which pollute air or water, by generating excessive noise, or by creating eyesores such as slag heaps. Without some form of government intervention in the market these processes of consumption or production would involve cost to the community which would not be taken into account by the private consumer or producer. Thus, without some intervention in the market mechanism, more of these products would be produced than is justified by their cost to the community. Conversely there are some products which give rise to benefits to the community not taken into account by the individual producers of consumers. For example, some expenditures on education and health services provide benefit to the community over and above that to the individuals most directly concerned.

However we must be careful of assuming that any externality effect justifies state intervention in the market. Firstly, we must recognize that almost any activity does have some external effect. For example, if I keep my garden tidy and beautiful this gives benefit to others, whilst if I neglect it, it is an eyesore to them. However it would be absurd to suggest that the state should intervene in such a situation. Before state intervention is justifiable the external effect must be substantial and if possible must be capable of being measured so that there is no danger of an over-reaction by the state which could be as bad as no reaction at all. Secondly, by appropriate regulation it may often be possible to turn an externality effect into an internal cost. For example, the state may lay down certain rules about pollution of water or air so that producers are obliged to use equipment which stops pollution. In this way external effects are internalised and become part of the private costs of production.

The effectiveness of the price mechanism is reduced by the existence of

various imperfections in the market. The response mechanism to changes in price implies the existence of effective competition. Where there is monopoly, or restrictive practices exist, supply is not responsive to price changes in the manner we have described. Again, imperfections in the knowledge of consumers mean that consumers’ sovereignty may result in mistakes. The presence of a high degree of uncertainty may make for inappropriate decisions. Thus the market may not be able to cope with providing investment funds for highly technological processes where the risk factor is difficult to calculate.

The market mechanism depends on and generates inequality in the distribution of incomes. The prices obtained for goods determine the incomes of the factors of production which help to make those goods. The price of labour if the income of the worker, the price of capital the income of the property owner. People’s incomes will depend on the value which society puts on their productive services. Not only that, the incentive mechanism of the market depends on changes in the price of the factors of production. Thus, if there is an increase in demand for a particular product, there will be an increase in the demand for the labour making that product and the return to the labour will rise. Elsewhere in the system there will be a reduction in demand leading to a reduction in wages. These changes in relative incomes bear no relationship to the merit or effort of the people concerned. Differences in income likewise tend to generate differences in amounts of wealth because the high a person’s income the easier it is for him to accumulate wealth. Such wealth may then be passed to successive generations by inheritance.

The free operation of the market tens to generate instability and unemployment. Experience before the Second World War suggested that market economies suffered from trade cycles characterised by fluctuations in income, output, prices and employment.

It may be doubted if the market system can cope adequately with the existence of unique resource scarcities. If there is a possibility that a particular resources, such as coal or oil, may be completely exhausted within a foreseeable timespan, it may be doubted whether a mechanism which reflects the interest of those alive today can adequately protect the interests of future generations.

Now let us look at a question which demonstrates the nature of the market mechanism and bears directly on some aspects of government economic and social policy.

Why Not Introduce Price Control?

A truism about the economic system is that ‘everything depend on everything else’. It is this inter-relationship which gives such importance to the coordinating function of prices. Some of the inter-relationships are brought about by this illustration of government intervention in a particular market.

Let us suppose that the price of a particular product has recently risen markedly and that this product (e.g. bread) is one that the government regards as especially important in the poor man’s budget, consequently the government introduces price control to hold the price below what it would be in the free market. What happens?

We can show the effects most clearly using a simple diagram with demand and supply curves. A demand curve shows the amount of the commodity which would be purchased at each possible price per period of time. The lower the price, the more will be purchased. When price is lower, consumers will tend to substitute this commodity for other goods, whilst if its price rises the reverse will be true. This substitution effect will usually be reinforced by and income effect. When price falls the consumer is better off (he has the equivalent of an increase in income) and unless the good is an ‘inferior’ good, he will tend to purchase more of it. Should it be an inferior good (one such that, as people become better off, the spend a smaller percentage of their income on it, e.g. potatoes or bread), it is still likely that more will be purchased when the price is low rather than high.

Why not a Command Economy?

To some extent the public sector has been developed to remedy the defects of the market mechanism. For example, to provide communal services like defence, which could not be provided by individuals, to expand services like education and health where there are strong externality effects and to put limits on the extremes of income distribution generated by the free market. If the price system has these defects, it may be asked, why not have all public sector? Why not a command economy?

Some part of the answer has been hinted at in our consideration of the characteristics of public goods and the way they are chosen. But it is worth considering the matter a little further.

At the opposite extreme to the capitalist laissez-faire economy, consisting of the market system with minimum government intervention, is the socialist command economy, resting on a system of complete central administrative planning, which, in its extreme form, does not include prices. Information has to be collected about the resources available, the alternative uses to which they can be put, the alternative production techniques and the community’s preferences. In the light of this information the central planning committee decides what should be produces and who should get the product and its commands are executed and implemented in physical terms, i.e. a physical allocation of resources to units of production and a physical ration of food, clothes, etc, to consumers.

Advantages of a Command Economy

The command economy has a particular appeal to those with a strong concern for economic equality and who are attracted by the idea of ‘scientifically controlling’ an economy as compared to leaving it, in part at least, to ‘blind market forces’. More specifically three main advantages can be claimed for a socialist command economy.

As people are not permitted to own wealth in productive resources there is much less scope for inequality in the distribution of wealth. Such inequality of wealth-holding as does exist, does not carry with it power over others.

The degree of inequality of income can be controlled. Such inequalities as do exist are deliberate. They are not the result of chance or impersonal factors.

As the whole economy is centrally planned, waste of resources which may result from competition is avoided.

Disadvantages of the Command Economy

Against these advantages have to be set some fundamental disadvantages.

Such an economy is likely to suffer from extreme inefficiency for a variety of reasons, partly interconnected.

(a) It is characterised by apoplexy at the centre. The magnitude of the task of

administratively planning a complete economy is huge. With a modern economy a large number of pieces of information have to be fed into the system and the planning process is unceasing because of continual changes in the quantity and nature of resources, in production methods and in preferences. The digestion of this information and the actual decision-making process is enormously complex. Nor is the answer to be found in the use of computers. Complicated messages about preferences, product qualities and information on production processes simply cannot be coded on to a computer. Even if they could, it is doubtful if consumers could be articulate enough about their preferences. In contrast, the market mechanism is able to operate more efficiently because of the dispersal of decision-making – each bit of the economy, be it producer or consumer, only has to take account of a limited range of information in making consumption or production decisions.

(b) Although the planners might set out with the intention of taking the preferences of all consumers into account, the task would defy them and what would prevail would be the preferences of the planners. Thus what would be produced would not accord with the preferences of consumers.

Physical rationing is inefficient in the sense that the consumer does not get that combination of goods and services which is in accordance with his tastes and preferences.
Individual initiative and enterprise are stifled in such a system.
Direction of labour, which is implied by the pure command economy, is inefficient (as well as being inhuman). This can best be seen by contrasting the situation with that of the market system. Under the market system, if more workers are required in a particular line of production the incentive to attract them is higher pay. Normally more workers will apply than are required so the managers will have the opportunity to select those whom they regard as more suitable for the post. It is unlikely that anyone essential in their present jobs would accept the new appointment because their old employers would in these circumstances offer them higher remuneration to stay where they were. Further, no one would apply to whom the move would involve personal hardship. Under direction of labour these conditions do not hold. Unless the selection has been very carefully made – and it would be make by others than the individual himself – there is a danger that the people selected would not be those most suitable for the post. Nor is there any guarantee that only those would be moved who would not face personal hardship as a result.

Advocates of a planned economy would maintain that these arguments overstate its inefficiencies because they exaggerate the genuineness of consumer difference. They would argue that consumers’ wants are fairly standard and that it is the market system which generates and accentuates differences. Hence to override consumers’ preferences is not a serious inefficiency. On the contrary, by so doing it becomes possible to reap economies of scale from standardization. It may well be that industrialisation of an economically backward country, where wants are more basic and standard, can be more rapidly achieved by a centrally planned economy. But the more advanced the country, the wider the range of goods and services, the more difficult is the central planning of the economy.

2. There is a lack of individual freedom. In a command economy there is a concentration of economic power and a concentration of political power. People have less freedom as consumers in the choice of products, as producer in their source of employment, and as participants in a political process. For example, direction of labour restricts personal freedom and can create serious human problems. Because the state is the universal employer, anyone who falls out with his employer may be deprived of all employment. With restricted scope for acquiring personal wealth, people are less independent and less able to resist oppression. The ownership of all the means of production, distribution and exchange by the state means that all organs of communication and education are owned and run by the state, freedom of expression is seriously curtailed.

3. In practice the goal of reducing inequalities is only imperfectly realized. As David Lane writes, “inequality is a characteristic of state-socialist society as it is of capitalist: there is inequality of control over wealth, inequality of political power, inequality of income and inequality of status.” Moreover there is a particular form of unmerited remunerations which tends to characterize command economies with great planning bureaucracies, i.e. corruption, the giving and receiving of ‘inducements’ to oil the bureaucratic wheels.

In reality, just as there is not such thing as a complete laissez-faire economy, so also the complete command economy, without prices, does not exist. But some economies e.g. the former USSR, approached fairly closely to it.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

State intervention in the economy to make good the limitations of the price system can take one or more of three forms: regulation, fiscal measures and provision. With publicly-provided goods there is no direct relationship between cost and an irreducible element of compulsion. The most convenient single measure of the size of the public sector is public expenditure expressed as a percentage of the Gross National Product – though the measure is imperfect and must be interpreted with caution. The twentieth century has witnessed an enormous growth of the public sector in the UK and major changes in its content – more than 50% of government spending is now on social services. The socialist command economy has attractions, particularly to those concerned about equality, but it is characterized by inefficiency and lack of freedom.

This description takes no account of the many ways in which government policies may indirectly affect incomes and modify the distribution generated by the market, either to reduce incomes by taxation or supplement them by welfare benefits.

The system of ‘points’ rationing introduced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War – which applied to a wide range of tinned food stuffs – is a remarkable recognition of the merits of this function of the price system. The points required for each commodity could be periodically adjusted according to the demand and supply conditions and the total points allocation could also be changed. In effect, variations in points values served the same purpose as changes in relative prices, whilst the total points allocation was akin to income – with the vital difference from money income that the points income was the same for all.

The market economy if often condemned as materialist and based on selfishness. But this by no means follows. The altruist, who is concerned to maximise his giving, can only do so if he first maximises his income.

Not everyone, however, would regard this as an advantage, This Samuel Brittan writes that ‘people will, in the last resort, accept a relatively low position in the pecking order if it is due to the luck of the impersonal market …… they will recognise that no ultimate judgement has been pronounces. If, on the other hand, their low position seems to result from a moralistic evaluation of their merits made by their fellow citizens though some political process – whether by individual persons in the government or on boards appointed for the task – they will stop at nothing to get the judgements withdrawn. No one likes being consigned to the rubbish heap by a body of identifiable wise men appointed to express the supposed moral evaluations of society’.