Imperfections in the exchange process between buyers and sellers that prevent markets from efficiently allocating scarce resources. Market failures come in four varieties -- public goods, market control, externalities, and imperfect information. Market efficiency is achieved if the value of goods produced is equal to the value of foregone production. Markets fail when this efficiency condition is not achieved. Such failures can only be corrected by government intervention.

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We need to pay another visit to Scarcity Stan's Ye Olde Bakery Shoppe and Confectionery Palace. But this is not a social visit, nor is intended for some delectable pastries that will add a few extra pounds to our waistlines. We're here on official economic business. Stan's at wits end. He doesn't know what to do. There's been so much demand for his economic pie, what with society's unlimited wants and needs, that he needs to make it bigger. Our job is to figure out how. While we're doing that, we'll also see how to put our economy on the path to economic growth.
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Visit the PEDestrian's Guide

Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a garage sale looking 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 deranged pelicans.
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This isn't me! What am I?

-- Mother Teresa, humanitarian

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