Tilly 8

No market power. No individual buyer or seller, nor any group of buyers or sellers, has the power to affect the market-wide level of prices, wages, or profits

Our economy is dotted with centers of market power, from large corporations to unions. Furthermore, employers have an edge in bargaining with workers because of the threat of unemployment

No economies of scale. Small plants can produce as cheaply as large ones

In fields such as mass-production industry, transportation, communications, and agriculture, large producers enjoy a cost advantage, limiting competition

Perfect information about the present. Buyers and sellers know everything there is to know about the goods being exchanged. Also, each is aware of the wishes of every other potential buyer and seller in the market

The world is full of “lemons-goods” about which the buyer is inadequately informed. Also, people are not mind-readers, so sellers get stuck with surpluses and willing buyers are unable to find the products they want

Perfect information about the future. Contracts between buyers and sellers cover every possible future eventuality.

Uncertainty clouds the future of any economy. Futures markets are limited.

You only get what you pay for. Nobody can impose a cost on somebody else, nor obtain a benefit from them, without paying.

“Externalities” both positive and negative are pervasive. In a free market, polluters can impose costs on the rest of us without paying. And when a public good like a park is built or roads are maintained, everyone benefits whether or not they helped pay for it.

Price is a proxy for pleasure. The price of a given commodity will represent the quality and desirability and/or utility derived from the consumption of the commodity

Conspicuous consumption” and/or “snob effects” will often distort prices from underlying utility

Self-interest only. In economic matters, each person cares for only about their own level of well-being

Solidarity, jealousy, and even love for one’s family violate this assumption

No joint production. Each production process has only one product.

Even in an age of specialization, there are plenty of exceptions to this rule. Ex: large service firms like hospitals or universities produce a variety of different services using the same resources