289. Market prices provide information to consumers, helping them coordinate their activities so long as
competition is present and buyers and sellers are free to choose mutually agreeable prices.
prices are not allowed to rise too high, causing a shortage.
prices are legally kept equal in all markets, preventing unfair price increases in markets
with shortages and unfair price decreases when a market surplus is present.
the government carefully screens producers and effectively keeps inefficient producers out
of the market.
290. Which of the following is necessary for the invisible hand of market prices to work properly?
buyers and sellers who generally tend to disregard their own self-interest
democratic political procedures and highly regulated markets
price controls that restrict the movement of market prices
competition and property rights that are well-defined and enforced
291. When oil prices increased to record levels in the 1970s, salaries dramatically increased for petroleum
geologists skilled in finding oil. Those geologists who moved from other areas to the higher paying
jobs were
seeking to profit from society’s needs rather than following the guidance of the invisible
hand, which would have led them to seek jobs serving society rather than jobs with higher
pay.
following the guidance of the invisible hand and probably serving society’s best interests
as well as their own.
causing oil prices to rise even more by moving to jobs with higher salaries.
helping themselves but hurting the economy.
292. When an unusually bad frost reduces the apple crop in Washington state, the price of canned apple
juice may rise immediately in supermarkets, even though the juice on the shelves was made from last
year’s plentiful crop. The invisible hand theory tells us that the profit-seeking merchants who raise
their prices in such situations
are hurting the economy, since the juice now on the shelves was produced at a lower cost.
are profiting by rationing the juice, which is now more scarce to the consumers willing to
pay the most for the now more limited supply.
are ignoring the motivating function of prices, which the invisible hand theory holds
should be set according to the cost paid by the merchant.
will not actually profit since they are ignoring a basic economic rule: Only raise prices
when consumer demand increases.