Lecture 23: Equity and Efficiency

Up to this point in the course, we have focused only on the outcomes generated by the market and their efficiency properties. Competitive equilibria in a market are typically efficient, but they may not be equitable: Some people may benefit greatly from the market's operation, while others do not. As a society, we may decide we want to alter these outcomes in a way that seems more equitable, but such changes typically come at the cost of efficiency. In this lecture, we will begin to learn about the efficiency-equity trade-off.