The decrease in the sum of consumer surplus and producer surplus that results from the imposition of a tax. When a tax drives a wedge between demand price and supply price it disrupts what otherwise would be an efficient market equilibrium. Inefficiency arises because while a portion of the sum of consumer and producer surplus is merely transferred to government, a portion of this sum also disappears. The part that disappears is the deadweight loss and is an indicator of the inefficiency of the tax.

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Our pedestrian excursion gives us a ground-level view of the economy, but it's certainly slow and time-consuming. If you're like me, you've probably thought once or twice about jumping into an Omni Motors XL GT 9000 sports coupe to speed us along the way. Or perhaps an Omni Airlines 30-day tourist excursion would make our trip faster and less exhausting. That's one nice thing about modern transportation, it's pretty quick and not too expensive. It also helps us get a whole lot closer to solving the unsolvable problem of scarcity. However, for a really good pedestrian view of transportation and how it helps us along, we'd better remain on foot.
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a dollar discount store wanting to buy either a remote controlled World War I bi-plane or a wall poster commemorating Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific crossing aboard the Kon-Tiki. Be on the lookout for letters from the Internal Revenue Service.
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