Market Failure and Government Intervention Essay

Market Failure and Government Intervention - Essay Example Market failure is a situation that describes a situation where the effects of demand and supply do not allocate their resources appropriately. This will, therefore, lead to a situation that defines market failure as a marketplace where the unauthorized price system leads to an extremely high or low allocation of resources for specific economic activities. Market failure is always inherent to the market and consequently causes the market equilibrium allocation to be inadequate. In relation to the theorem of welfare economics, there is a possibility that under absolute conditions the allocation of resources in the long-run competitive equilibrium is efficient. Unfortunately, most of the markets always fail in the allocation of various economic and environmental resources thus making the overall allocation of resources inadequate. Adam Smith’s invisible hand is always a major principle in the allocation of resources. Various economists always refer these types of problems to approve the role for government intervention. A prominent economist once urged that existence of a free market always find it challenging to do away with the need for the government (Aldridge, 2005). In a situation where the positive externalities extremely exceed private benefits, the good produced or services provide become non-profitable in the market context, there will be always some benefits associated with goods or services that are allocated free. For example, one puts security lights in his or her compound to light the compound and neighbors use the light too to light their compounds free. The problem is that the market system cannot easily supply goods or services provided that are jointly consumed (Besanko, 2011). Consequently, for a market to work appropriately a two-party agreement is quite preferable. When non-paying parties cannot easily be excluded from the benefits of goods or services where the problem of the free rider arises. Good examples for such a situation include street lighting, roads, bridges, and drainage systems.